No plan for MLALAD fund: CM

He said that MLAs have to get development work done in their assembly constituency under schemes of the government

: Haryana chief minister ML Khattar on Monday told the House that the state government has no plans to start MLA local area development (MLALAD) fund on the lines of Member of Parliament local area development (MPLAD) fund.

No plan for MLALAD fund: CM

He said that MLAs have to get development work done in their assembly constituency under schemes of the government.

The chief minister who was responding to a discussion on the issue by five Congress MLAs - Varun Chaudhary, Aftab Ahmed, Bharat Bhushan Batra, Amit Sihag and Shalley - said the state government had given ₹ five crores each to the MLAs for the development work in their constituencies in 2014 and 2019.

Congress MLA Varun Chaudhary, who initiated the discussion said that neighbouring Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have made provisions for MLALAD fund. His senior party colleague, Bharat Bhushan Batra said that CM’s stance of altogether dismissing the demand for MLALAD fund was unfair.

“The Vidhayak Adarsh Gram Yojana (VAGY) referred to by the Development and Panchayats minister would not work for urban constituencies like mine and the CM,” Batra said. Congress MLA Amit Sihag said that though MPs have financial powers, it is unfortunate that the MLAs who play an important role in grassroot democracy did not have any financial empowerment.

The chief minister said that all the 90 MLAs would be sent a list of works done in their areas, in which the works whose completion certificates are yet to come would also be included. If any work is left out of this list, then the MLA should inform the government about it, and further action will be taken on it as soon as possible.

Five bills passed

Chandigarh: Five bills to repeal obsolete and outdated laws were passed by the Haryana Vidhan Sabha.

These included the Haryana Urban Immovable Property Tax (Validation of Lists) Repeal Bill, the Haryana Small Towns (Tax - Validating) Repeal Bill, the Haryana Municipal (Tax - Validating) Repeal Bill, 2022, the Haryana Minor Canals (Repeal) Bill, 2022 and the Haryana State Tube-Well (Repeal) Bill, 2022.

Ten were also introduced in the House and seven of them will be taken up for discussion on Tuesday. These included the Haryana Shree Mata Bhimeshwari Devi Mandir (Ashram), Beri Shrine Bill, 2022, the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Haryana Rural Development (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Haryana Enterprises Promotion (Amendment) Bill, the Haryana Legislative Assembly (Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members) Second Amendment Bill, 2022, the Faridabad Metropolitan Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Haryana Sikh Gurdwaras (Management) Amendment Bill, 2022, the Haryana Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the Haryana Municipal (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022.

‘Did not buy Pegasus spyware from Israel’

The Haryana government on Monday denied the purchase of Pegasus spyware for surveillance from Israeli company NSO Group.

Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar in a written response to an unstarred question by Congress MLA Neeraj Sharma said that a delegation of 13 persons led by him and including IAS and IPS officers had visited Israel and United Kingdom in May 2018 to project Haryana as preferred investment destination.

An expenditure of ₹ 90.61 lakh was sanctioned to be borne by the state government and its agencies- HSIIDC and HSAMB for the foreign visit.

The Congress MLA was, however, not satisfied with the reply. “I had specifically asked whether the IPS officers who went to Israel had visited its national intelligence agency, Mossad and held meetings. But the government did not reply. If your officials did not meet Mossad officials, then spell it out clearly,” Sharma said.

Medical posts lying vacant

CHANDIGARH: As many as 6,482 posts of different categories of medical and para medical staff have been lying vacant in Haryana, according to information tabled on the floor of the House.

Among the vacant posts include senior medical officers (235), medical officers (999), dental surgeon (132), nursing sister (328), staff nurse (1500), pharmacy officers (353), and 541 of medical laboratory technologist.

At PGIMS, Rohtak, against the sanctioned 920 posts, 403 posts are vacant. The state government stated that in six government/government-aided medical colleges, out of the 1,867 sanctioned posts of doctors, as many as 963 posts are vacant, while 1,020 posts out of 1,726 sanctioned posts of paramedical staff in six government/government-aided medical colleges are vacant.