In Haryana Assembly, Opposition slams government over potholed roads, waterlogging and sanitation issues

Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Hooda raised the issue of waterlogging in several districts and demanded that Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar should visit such areas. “A proper crop-damage assessment should be conducted and immediate compensation be given to farmers whose crops have been affected by waterlogging. The reality is that farmers who lost their crops two years ago are still waiting for compensation,” said the Congress leader and former chief minister.

Congress MLA Subhash Gangoli raised the issue of potholed roads and villagers protesting against the bad roads even on the national highway’s 35-km stretch in his Safidon constituency. “Is it the ill fate of the people of Safidon that they elected an Opposition MLA?” he asked.

The Congress MLA from Jhajjar, Geeta Bhukkal, too, spoke about the potholed and other poorly maintained roads across various districts. “I had raised the issue of potholed roads in Jhajjar district in the previous sessions. A shoddy patchwork was done after that. Take waterlogging. No corrective measures are being taken. This government is only making portal after portal, but nothing is happening on the ground. What is the public health department doing? Does the public health department have a schedule to take corrective measures so that people could get clean potable water. The chief minister had said that all MLAs would be given Rs 5 crore for developmental works in their constituencies. I had submitted a list of works that are required to be conducted in Jhajjar. I was told that the money was sanctioned. Why are you [chief minister] making a fool of us in front of the people of our constituency? The government says money has been sent; we are not getting anything,” Bhukkal said.

Another Congress MLA, Raghubir Kadian, demanded that all the issues being raised by the Opposition MLAs during Zero Hour should be properly “tabulated” and the government “should reply in detail on all such issues”.

Krishan Lal Midha, BJP MLA from Jind, said, “Jind has been connected with eight national highways. But taking note of the increasing road accidents, the government should set up a trauma centre in Jind.”

Neeraj Sharma, Congress MLA from Faridabad NIT, raised sewerage problems. “It is the wedding season, because of which lots of sanitation issues are cropping up. Although the assurance committee hears our issues and the officials make commitments, sewerages are getting clogged and overflowing, despite all the taxes that people pay. We also raised the issues in public-grievances meetings, yet nothing happened. I had challenged the government that I would personally take a bath in mud-filled water and come to the public grievances meeting. After that announcement, the government stopped calling us to the public grievance meeting.”

Congress MLA Varun Chaudhary raised the waterlogging in several villages in his Mullana constituency. “Crops are getting damaged. People are losing their lives. Roads are getting affected,” he said, demanding that the government spend as much money as required to repair the road networks.

Aseem Goel, BJP MLA from Ambala City, demanded that priests in temples and gurdwaras should be provided financial help “on the same lines of that of madrasa clerics”.

Shamsher Gogi, Congress MLA from Assandh, alleged that “RSS and BJP members have occupied the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee. Punjabi is a second language in Haryana. But there are no teachers to teach this language. An advertisement to recruit teachers was issued, but there is no post for Punjabi in it”.

BJP MLA Jagdish Nayyar demanded a bypass road in his Hodal constituency for better traffic management and better connectivity between the state and Uttar Pradesh.

BJP MLA Satya Prakash Jaravta said that 46 schools in his Pataudi constituency had dilapidated buildings.

And Congress MLA Kuldeep Vats, also targeted the government over potholed roads. “Over the past three years, the condition of roads has gone from bad to worse. I would like to ask the government how much time it would take to repair these roads,” Vats said, further raising crop damage in 45 villages in his Badli constituency.