Haryana govt’s decision on change in sarpanches’ power crucial: Khattar

Union power minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday said that the recent decision by the state government to increase the limit of undertaking works from ₹5 lakh to ₹21 lakh without e-tendering is crucial and will help push development of gram panchayats.

Khattar, who is the BJP MP from Karnal, said this on the sidelines of his Jan Samwad in Indri. This was his third of nine similar events he will chair among all assembly segments of Karnal constituency.

At the event, Khattar heard nearly 250 complaints and asked the officials to resolve them at the earliest.

While reacting to the change in gram panchayat policy by his successor CM Nayab Saini, Khattar said that the decision is welcome and was a long pending demand.

“This was a demand even then (during his tenure). I have also come across the fact that despite our decision earlier, the development works could not kick off as expected. We sanctioned enough budgets, but it was stuck due to some technicalities. I believe to push works in the villages, the state government took this crucial decision,” he added.

Earlier this month, Saini during a state-level event at Kurukshetra addressed this bone of contention between the state and sarpanches ahead of upcoming assembly polls, while announcing a slew of benefits for the sarpanches.

Meanwhile, Khattar also appreciated the Agniveer scheme of the army recruitment and said that this is a successful measure for youth of the country.

“The scheme helps them to get trained in the army and become a noble person. Almost 25% of them will be retained by the army and the rest could excel in the public sector, industries and now in the paramilitary forces, as announced recently. In Haryana, we have already announced that even then some Agniveer remains unemployed, he will be given job in the state without any exam or interview,” he added.