Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday said that State government is making constant efforts to open the ‘Singhu and Tikri’ borders, which he added were closed by the farmers, and asserted that the problem can be solved only through dialogue.
Scores of farmers have been camping for over eleven months now at several places including Singhu-Tikri at Delhi’s borders , demanding a repeal of three farm laws enacted by the Centre government.
Mr. Khattar, who was addressing a press conference here on the occasion of 56th ‘Haryana Diwas’, said the State government has constituted a committee under the chairmanship of the Home Secretary to hold talks with the protesting farmers for clearing the blockade at the Kundli-Singhu and Tikri borders.
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“Discussions are underway. Along with this, the Supreme Court has also taken cognizance in this matter. Due to the closure of the border, the people travelling along with the local residents and traders are facing inconvenience. The people blocking the highway should understand the problem and come forward for dialogue,” he said.
Mr. Khattar said in the coming days, he will visit all the 90 Assembly constituencies of the State and interact with the people. “Due to the pandemic, the tours could not be conducted for some time. Now the programmes for the next two months have been prepared,” he said.
The Chief Minister’s remarks come even as leaders of the BJP and its coalition partner, the Duhsyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) have been facing a backlash from farmers over the Centre’s farm laws during the past few months. Farmer outfits have announced that all legislators who have backed the Centre’s farm laws will be boycotted and won’t be allowed entry into villages across the State.
Mr. Khattar added that transparency in jobs is one of the focuses of his government and complete transparency is being adopted in the recruitment by Haryana Staff Selection Commission and Haryana Public Service Commission.
“The government has provided 83,000 government jobs over a period of seven years and people were appreciating the transparency brought about in the recruitment process. The latest example of this is the recruitment of women sub-inspectors in Haryana Police, in which 58 out of 64 girls were selected from poor families and no one from their family was a government employee. They were selected on the basis of merit,” he said.
However, senior Congress leader from Haryana and party’s national general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said the BJP-JJP government and Haryana Staff Selection Commission had once again made a mockery of the competence, ability and potential of the youth of the State. He also accused them of destroying the entire examination system, the manner of preparing the paper and the method of taking the exam.
Mr. Surjewala alleged that the recent examinations process of HSSC for police constable recruitment indicates that there is a conspiratorial method so that the eligible youth for police constable can be excluded from the selection process and the favourite ones could be recruited through the back door.
“HSSC does not have the right to continue even for a moment and they should be dismissed immediately. The anti-youth, ill-conceived intentions of the BJP-JJP government should also be investigated,” he said.
