Khap panchayats do not have any say in honour killings,its the kin of the victims who do

Tanushree Roy chowdhury: You had promised before the elections that you would make Haryana self-sufficient in power by 2010,but now you are saying it will take another three years.

Another one-and-a-half years or even by the end of this year. When I took over,the total generation of Haryana was 1,587 MW only. And available power from other sources was 4,200 MW,but the demand has risen to 8,000 MW this year,and it might touch 9,000 MW by next year,so we are increasing production of power by 5,000 MW. For that I laid the foundation stone of a 600 MW plant at Yamunanagar,which has already started generation; the foundation stone for a 1,200 MW plant was laid by the PM in Hisarthe first unit has already started generation and by mid-August,1,200 MW will be generated. Third is the Jharli power plant shared by Delhi and Haryana,the foundation stone for which was laid by Smt Sonia Gandhi,it will generate 1,500 MW before CWG. There will also be 420 MW of power from private players,so by mid next year,well be generating 5,000 MW or more.

Tanushree Roy chowdhury: Industrialists are unhappy since they do not even get the promised eight hours of power supply.

Can you name any state where they are happy? I am purchasing power at the rate of Rs 9-10 to provide power to them. My focus is to achieve sufficiency. And I am satisfied with what I have achieved.

DK Singh: One issue that has dominated the headlines of latethe Mirchpur incident where two Dalits were burnt alive… it seems the controversy is more within the party. Chautala did not go there,Mayawati never said a word. So everything that has been said about Mirchpur has come from your party.

That is your assessment. My assessment is that an unfortunate incident has taken place and I have taken appropriate steps. Judges have also expressed satisfaction with the steps we have taken.

DK Singh: Were you surprised by Rahul Gandhis visit to Mirchpur?

No,that is his style and I was happy because it gave confidence to the victims.

DK Singh: What is your stance on the khaps demand for amendments in the Hindu Marriage Act?

Khaps are informal social organisations like NGOsif they do good,its appreciated,but nobody is allowed to take law into their hands.

Maneesh Chhibber: How do you plan to rein them in?

There is some misunderstanding. Khap panchayats are very different from honour killings. Khap panchayats do not have any say in honour killings,its the kin of the victims who do. Khaps have existed historically. Even the HMA has a clause which prohibits marriage within five generations on the fathers side and three generations on the mothers. Not marrying within the gotra is a custom being followed and customary laws have their own strength. The other practice is that there should be no marriage within the same villagerecently a Jharkhand girl was killed for the same reason,but there are no khaps there.

Coomi Kapoor: When Capt Amarinder Singh came a few weeks ago,he said that the degree of relations within which one is not supposed to marry needs a relook,since there were some villages where women could not marry at all.

As far as I know,we used to leave four gotrasour own,our mothers,and both the grandmothers. Aaj kal log nani ka gotra nahi chhodte hain aur kahin kahin dadi ka bhi nahi choodte hain. I am not for intra-gotra marriage,but no one should take law into their hands.

Maneesh Chhibber: What is happening on your demand for a separate high court for Haryana?

I am hopeful. I have spoken to the law minister also and things are going in the positive direction.

Dhiraj Nayyar: Haryanas agricultural performance has been outstanding but are you satisfied with the development of urban areas in Haryana since other than Gurgaon and Panchkula,which are the satellite cities of Delhi and Chandigarh,there arent too many well-developed centres in Haryana?

No,it is developing fast. It is not only Gurgaon and Panchkula,other urban centres are also developing.

Dhiraj Nayyar: But people are not migrating to cities in Haryana.

I dont want them to migrate. My dream is to provide facilities that are available in cities in bigger villages. The Haryana Rural Development Authority is slowly providing infrastructure in villages as well.

Coomi Kapoor: How much of Haryanas economic prosperity is due to its proximity to Delhi?

Delhi is the main contributor,we do not have any other natural source,no sea,no mountains,Haryana is like a horse shoe to Delhi on three sides,I have done my best to take maximum advantage of that.

Sweta Dutta: The Gurgaon Rapid Metro Rail project has been pending for two years,it has not got the Centres nod yet. Officials say the file has been lying on Jaipal Reddys table for the last six months and also that there was some problem with the state government not keeping the central government in the loop.

No problem,it takes time. As far as the Metro is concerned,everything up to Gurgaon and Faridabad has been cleared. My first priority was Gurgaon,then Faridabad. Now it will be to Bahadurgarh then to Kundli and from Gurgaon well take it to Manesar. Like DMRC,in this budget,which we presented,we have created a Haryana Metro Corporation so that Haryana can build its own Metro. Well make it seamless with DMRC.

Dhiraj Nayyar: What have you done about the status of women? Despite economic prosperity,the gender balance is not right.

We have improved in the last three years. We have different schemes,one is the Ladli schemeany woman having a second girl child will be paid Rs 5,000 per year for five years. For SCs and OBCs,the Indira Gandhi yojana provides Rs 31,000 for a girls kanyadanearlier we used to give Rs 11,000. Likewise,if the power connection is in the name of a woman,we give a concession of 10 paise per unit. If property is registered in the name of a woman,two per cent concession is given.

Pradeep Kaushal: Were you surprised by Chautalas performance during the last Assembly elections?

I was not surprised because he got these tickets by default. You see,sometimes we commit mistakes in distributing tickets,sometimes the local situation is such. In Parliament,we got nine seats (out of 10) and in two seatsRohtak and Panipatwe won with the highest margin. But during Assembly elections,we got fewer votes in these seats,while we got more votes from the eight other seats.

Sanjeev Mukherjee: Haryana is a small state compared to others,so do you think it is easier to manage?

A state should not be very small,if it is too small,administration becomes very heavy. The size of Haryana is ok,Punjab is not a very big state now,but it was. You see,the parameter that indicates a states development is planned budget. When I took over,the planned budget of my state,during Mr Omprakash Chautalas term,was between Rs 2,000 to 2,200 crore and there was always a shortage of resources. And the planned budget of Punjab was maybe more than Rs 3,500 crore. But within these five years,this time,this year,I presented a budget of Rs 18,260 crore instead of Rs 2,200 crore and that of Punjab is Rs 10,000-11,000 crore. Within three years I surpassed the budget of Punjab,which was ahead of us.

Tanushree Roy chowdhury: The Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon completed its two years but there has not been much difference. Meanwhile,you changed a commissioner and brought in the commissioner from Faridabad,who had done a decent job there but has turned out to be a failure in Gurgaon.

Because jab tak election nai hoga tab tak thoda problem rahega. Within the next four-five months elections will be conducted,then the Corporation will take its real shape.

Tanushree Roy chowdhury: When in 2006,there were serial killings in Gurgaon,you had promised that you will put in place a public transport system connecting places like Delhi,Faridabad,Manesar and ahead,which still remains to be done.

We have already sanctioned 200 buses.

Raghvendra Rao: Your government had planned an airport in your first term.

My efforts are still on. I have discussed it with the aviation minister too,in principle he agreed.

Dhiraj Nayyar: Does food price inflation have anything to do with the rising MSPs given to farmers?

That is a very complicated situation since our country has both producers as well as consumers so both have to be taken care of. Had MSP not been there,we would have had to import. At one point,the government has to waive off farmers loans. The expenses in the chain between the farmers and consumers will remain. A sub-committee has been formed,of which I have been made the chairman and the chief ministers of Punjab,West Bengal and Bihar have been made members. The first meeting will be held on June 7,where I will be presenting the food security report about what can be and should be done.

Dhiraj Nayyar: What is the possible solution?

There is the market,the mandi system,FCI,etc.there are several systems,not a one-point answer,it is a chain which has to be discussed.

Maneesh Chhibber: Whenever a government acquires land from farmers,it leads to a lot of hue and cry but in Haryana,the process has been smooth. The Government of India also wants other states to follow Haryana. Will you explain how you achieve it?

The land acquisition and rehabilitation policy formulated by Haryana is not there anywhere else in the world. Under this,when we acquire some land for development purposes,we give full compensation and annuity for 33 years,which means we have a fixed floor rate throughout the state,depending on proximity,etc. Rs 1,000 per acre per year is paid as annuity for 33 years and every year Rs 500 is added to it. In case the acquisition is for an SEZ,then annuity is Rs 30,000 per year for 33 years with an increase of Rs 1,000 annually. Suppose HSIIDC or HUDA acquires land,we re-habilitate the farmers. The policy takes care that the acquisition should benefit at least one generation ahead.

NP Singh: Is there any proposal to improve the pollution norms with regard to vehicles? Delhi continues to complain that it has no control on its pollution levels since vehicles entering from Haryana do not comply with pollution norms,whereas Delhi has controlled it with the introduction of CNG. Also,since your taxes are lower and Delhi has increased its registration by 10 per cent,it encourages registration of vehicles in Haryana and they are brought in unchecked into Delhi.

When there was no CNG in Delhi,we still had a lower fee. We have introduced CNG in the NCR region and have brought in low-floor CNG buses to ensure norms.

Maneesh Chhibber: Do you think there will be a solution to Chandigarh,between Haryana and Punjab?

These are three primary issueswater,territory and Capital. Haryanas primary concern is its water,my focus will be on water. Punjab isnt giving us our share.

Dhiraj Nayyar: The central government has been hesitant about big retail,specially FDI. Is that a possible solution to bridge the gaps between what farmers get and what consumers get?

That is one way,the PPP model,we can go for that. But we have to take care of the middlemen,we cannot take them out since they are also earning their livelihood. So every section has to be taken care of.

Shekhar Gupta: Have you heard anything from your farmers about nutrient-based subsidy?

The meeting has been called on June 7,wherein this will be discussed.

Maneesh Chhibber: Are you opposed to the creation of a human rights commission for the state,like your predecessor?

Im not opposed to it,but we do not require a separate commission. Whenever there is a need,well do it.

Transcribed by Tanushree Roy Chowdhury.