Protecting interests of farmers paramount: Haryana CM

Chandigarh, March 7 (IANS) Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday informed the assembly the interests of farmers were paramount for the government with the compensation for crop damage increasing from Rs 10,000 per acre to Rs 15,000 per acre.

Replying to a question, he said in this fiscal, the government approved Rs 581.17 crore as compensation of the farmers. Besides, the claims of Rs 755 crore have also been approved under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. The premium of Rs 242 crore was paid by the farmers.

So far, Rs 534 crore has been deposited in the accounts of farmers, the balance amount will be deposited by end of this month.

Replying to another question, he said there has been a seven-time increase in the recruitment of doctors.

Khattar said 2,615 medical officers have been appointed. They included 954 Medical Officers (Group-A) who were appointed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The process recruiting 980 medical officers is underway. The previous government had recruited 370 medical officers. During our tenure, we have recruited 2,615 medical officers, which are seven times more."

The Chief Minister said providing affordable and state-of-the-art medical facilities to the common man is the top priority. In 2014, there were seven medical colleges in the state, out of which three were government and three private.

"During our tenure, three government and four private medical colleges have been opened. Now the number of colleges has increased to 13 in the state, our target is to open one medical college in every district," he added.

The Chief Minister said the Central government has been requested regarding the permanent membership of the state in the Bhakra Beas Management Board.

"The control of this board is with the Central government, in which one member from irrigation is appointed from Haryana and one member from power is appointed from Punjab."

He said efforts are being made to appoint a permanent member in the board. For this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also been requested and he had assured that action would be taken in this regard.

Apart from this, a request was also made to the Union Minister of State for Power, New and Renewable Energy.