The Hindu : Chautala to convene SYL canal meeting

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 01, 2003

Other States

Other States - Nagaland

Chautala to convene SYL canal meeting

By Our Special Correspondent

CHANDIGARH DEC. 31. The Haryana Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala, today asserted that he would convene an all-party meeting on January 14 to chalk out strategy on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal which is the lifeline of the people of Haryana.

Addressing a press conference here this evening, Mr.Chautala flayed the former Chief Minister and Haryana Congress president, Bhajan Lal, for calling for a dharna outside the Prime Minister's residence on January 15 to press the Centre to get the remaining portion of the SYL Canal constructed in Punjab territory.

He alleged that the Congress leaders were trying to politicise the issue. If they had been sincere, they would have urged Sonia Gandhi and the Punjab Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, to honour the Supreme Court verdict to construct the remaining portion of the Canal. While accusing the Punjab Government of dilly-dallying in honouring the verdict, he asserted he would once again urge the Prime Minister to get the work completed by a Central Agency after the `deadline' given to Punjab expired.

He described the year 2002 as an era of progress and prosperity entirely due to the implementation of a number of ambitious schemes, welfare programmes and progressive policies launched by the State Government following the futuristic vision of his father, the late Devi Lal.

He said the systematized implementation of new education policy, Information Technology, Urban and Rural Development, Bio-Technology and Sports Policies as well as a number

of other welfare programmes had made the achievements of Haryana incomparable in the field of development. He claimed that the greatest achievement had been the continuous growth in the popularity graph of his Government. The candidate of his party had won the bye-election of Yamunanagar with a thumping majority.

He said that a relief package of Rs.236.16 crores had been sanctioned for the drought affected farmers of the State, whereas the Central Government had announced a relief of only Rs.109.65 crores. It had been decided that those farmers whose sugarcane crop had been damaged more than 50 per cent would be provided relief at a rate of Rs.4,000 per hectare, while relief at a rate of Rs.2,500 per hectare would be given to those vegetable growers whose crops suffered damage of more than 50 per cent.

He asserted that the installed capacity of power had been increased by 792 MW by the present Government. The sixth unit of Tau Devi Lal Thermal Plant, Panipat had been completed and now the work was in progress to set up its seventh and eight units of 250 MW each. These units would be ready for commissioning within a period of less than three years. The work to set up two units of 250 MW each at Yamunanagar Thermal Power Plant had also been taken up. The second unit of the Panipat Thermal Plant had been lighted up today.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

Stories in this Section

Chautala to convene SYL canal meeting