This Week Haryana: The Chautalas warm up early

Exploitation rather than shelter

The state’s shelter homes,be they in Gurgaon,Faridabad or the Chief Minister’s home of Rohtak,have come under investigation following allegations of sexual exploitation,assault and mistreatment of those who live there,including minors. Most of the NGOs running these homes have been doing so on state government grants. The investigation has found that the caretakers of some shelter homes had abandoned mentally challenged women at railway stations,while some of those running such homes were even involved in trafficking of minor children. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has slammed government and police officials and called for a strategy to ensure protection and dignity of life for people living in such homes.

The power and the politics

The Yamunanagar power plant has been shut for many months while the one at Kheda is producing less than its capacity,giving the Opposition a stick to beat the government with. The government has conceded that it is because of defective machinery,now undergoing repair,that the Kheda plant has failed to generate adequate power. The INLD has urged Governor Jagannath Pahadia to order a probe into what it calls a scam. It has accused the government of purposely buying the defective machinery and alleged that the state government modified the contract’s terms to benefit the supplier. INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala has reminded Chief Minister B S Hooda of his promise to ensure 22-hour supply and accused him of not keeping his word.

The CM and his many rivals

Chief Minister Hooda stunned many when he shared the state with his arch-rival Kiran Choudhry,MLA,and her daughter Shruti,MP,to address a huge gathering in Gurgaon. What made it all the more intriguing was that the venue is considered a stronghold of another of Hooda’s arch-rivals,Rao Inderjit Singh,the Gurgaon MP. A third arch-rival in the party,Birender Singh the Rajya Sabha MP,appears to have gone into a shell since the Hisar elections,where he had sought a party ticket for his IAS son Brijendra but been snubbed,with Hooda’s choice of Jai Prakash prevailing. As it turned out,the Congress finished third in a contest the Haryana Janhit Congress won comfortably.