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Power, water priority areas: Hooda

CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said on Thursday that power and water were the two major areas which would be addressed on a priority basis by his regime.

Addressing PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industries (PHDCCI) Managing Committee members and other senior industrialists of the region here, Mr. Hooda said the thrust areas would be infrastructure and agro-based projects as the land holdings were receding day by day and the only way to generate employment was to set up industries in a big way.

He asserted that Haryana had inherited power problem from the previous governments but his regime had initiated projects to generate 5,000 MW of additional power in the next two years.

Efforts were under way to set up a nuclear power plant in Fatehabad district, he noted. About water shortage, he said Haryana’s share in the Yamuna water had been reduced this year as the level of water had been reduced to 2,200 cusecs from 8,000 cusecs last year. He reiterated that his regime was constructing the Hansi-Butana Canal to ensure equitable and judicious distribution of water in the State.

Mr. Hooda said Haryana was the third largest exporter of software among the Indian States with exports amounting to Rs.14,000 crore.

Haryana, he asserted, had achieved a growth rate of 10.5 per cent last year and the target for the 11th Five Year Plan had been fixed at 11 per cent. It had emerged as the fastest growing State in the country with the highest per capita income among all the bigger States with a per capita investment of Rs.78,500.

The Chief Minister also said that the State had also done extremely well in financial management and in maintaining fiscal discipline. “The Plan expenditure has also been doubled during the last three years,” he added.

Mr. Hooda maintained that Haryana, with its unique strategic advantages, offered world-class residential and commercial facilities along with the cosmopolitan ambiance because of a large number of multinationals. “Our effort has been to strike a harmony between social, industrial and residential infrastructure”.

Mr. Hooda said Haryana was the pioneer State in the country to formulate a rehabilitation policy for the farmers whose land is being acquired by various government agencies for developing essential services.

The State, he added, had garnered investments worth Rs.33,000 crore during the past three years alone and proposals worth Rs.68,000 crore were in the pipeline and this was without counting the massive investment likely to be catalysed by the Special Economic Zones being set up in the State. When a member asked about the proposal to levy entry tax in the State, he said there was after all need for funds for development of the State.

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