Strict action being ensured against illegal constructions in green belt: Haryana minister

Haryana minister J P Dalal on Friday said strict action is being ensured against the construction of unauthorised buildings in green belts on scheduled roads and national highways in the state.

Responding to a question of Congress MLA B B Batra raised during Question Hour in the state assembly, Dalal said over 1,700 unauthorised constructions have been detected and many have been already demolished.

Detailed information about such buildings, whether they are residential or commercial, their construction period, action taken and FIRs registered, was placed on the table of the House.

Batra had sought to know ''whether it is a fact that many unauthorised buildings have been constructed on the green belt on the scheduled roads and national highways in the state and, if so, the action taken by the government to remove them in the last three years''.

The reply from Agriculture Minister Dalal witnessed some exchanges between him and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Dalal in his reply said 1,722 unauthorised constructions have been detected, of which 1,523 have been issued show cause notices while 393 demolitions have already been carried out. As many as 99 FIRs have been registered so far, he added.

Dalal questioned why Congress member Batra was seeking to know action taken by the government only for a three-year period and alleged that the previous Congress government did not act on such unauthorised constructions during its tenure.

Intervening in the matter, Congress leader Hooda said the minister was not replying to the specific question and was deviating from it.

The minister is talking of previous 10 years, 20 years and is not giving a straight answer, he added.

As Dalal sought to target the previous Congress regime, a combative Hooda said he will give a ''strong reply'' to him.

Batra sought to know ''under whose shelter such construction flourished''. He also sought to know whether FIRs will be registered against the officers responsible for it.

Meanwhile, INLD’s lone MLA Abhay Singh Chautala and main opposition Congress members staged a brief walkout on different issues.

Speaking outside the assembly, Congress members said they were not permitted to seek Minister Sandeep Singh's clarification on the sexual harassment case he is facing after a FIR was lodged against him by Chandigarh Police on complaint of a woman coach.

MLA Chautala took on the government, saying he had not been given a satisfactory reply to a question raised by him. He staged a walkout stating that he was dissatisfied with the reply.

Abhay had sought to know whether any agriculture loan was lying outstanding towards the farmers of the state at present and the total amount that was due and against how many farmers such amount was outstanding.

In reply, Haryana Cooperation Minister Banwari Lal said “an agricultural loan of Rs 29,3291.08 lakh is outstanding against 30,6127 farmers as on March 31, 2022 in the state. This loan amount was given by the Haryana State Cooperative Apex Bank and Haryana State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank.'' Lal also said that ''a loan of Rs 69,878.98 lakh is outstanding against 59,354 farmers given by Haryana State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank as on March 31, 2022''.

However, Abhay said he wanted to know the total loan outstanding against all the farmers in the state.

Chief Minister M L Khattar told the INLD member that he had put his question before the cooperation department whose minister concerned gave the reply and if he wanted to know data of the entire state he should have asked the question to the finance department.

Abhay said that he had put his question to the agriculture department and not the cooperation department.

Haryana Public Health Minister Banwari Lal said an amount of Rs 21.36 crore has been sanctioned under the Jal Jeevan Mission for the Ganaur Assembly constituency. About 35 perc ent work has been completed so far, he said in response to a question by an MLA.

In response to another question raised during Question Hour, Haryana Urban Local Bodies Minister Kamal Gupta said Shri Krishna AYUSH University is being set up at over 94 acres of land in Fattupur village of Kurukshetra district.

The government has decided that this project will soon be started by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)