Leader of Opposition in Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, stated on Monday that the Congress party welcomes the Supreme Court's decision to take suo motu cognisance of the critical Aravalli issue. He accused the state government of deliberately avoiding a discussion on this pressing matter in the legislative assembly.
Assembly Discussion Blocked, Says Hooda
Hooda revealed that the Congress raised the Aravalli issue in the House and even moved a proposal for a short-duration debate. However, this proposal was outright rejected. He argued that the government's reluctance to discuss the topic in the assembly forced the judicial intervention.
Citing data from the Forest Survey of India, the former Chief Minister warned that the destruction of the Aravallis would impact Haryana the most. He described the hill range as the state's "lungs" and said its degradation would lead to significantly higher pollution levels.
Illegal Mining Linked to Fatal Incidents
Hooda sharply questioned the government's legal stand before the court. He demanded to know why the Aravallis were not being defended adequately and why action against illegal mining has been ineffective, allowing the mining mafia to operate fearlessly.
To underscore the grave consequences, he referenced two tragic past events:
- The killing of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in Nuh on July 19, 2022.
- The Dadam (Bhiwani) landslide on January 1, 2022, which claimed the lives of five workers.
Hooda directly linked both incidents to the rampant illegal mining activities in the region.
Allegations of Injustice in Haryana Jobs
Shifting to another contentious issue, Hooda alleged that the BJP government is systematically excluding Haryanvi youth from state recruitments. He presented figures from the document-verification process for the Haryana Power Utilities (HPU) assistant engineer recruitment.
According to his claim, out of 214 selected candidates in the general category, only 29 held Haryana domicile. He labeled this a severe injustice to the local youth, questioning the government's commitment to providing employment opportunities for residents of the state.
The Congress leader's statements bring together environmental concerns and livelihood issues, mounting a twin attack on the state government's policies ahead of the court's crucial hearing on the Aravalli matter.
