Committed to probe release of every inch of land: Hry govt

Haryana government today said it is committed to probe the release of "every single inch" of land released during the previous Congress regime.
State Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu stated this in a written reply to a question raised during the Question Hour,in Haryana Assembly today.
Abhimanyu, who also holds the industry department portfolio, informed the House that during past 14-years, 3192 Change of Land Use (CLUs) had been approved.
The Minister said that during the last ten years of erstwhile Congress government, 4500 acres of land had been released when the acquisition process had reached advanced stage.
However, Leader of Opposition and senior INLD leader, Abhay Singh Chautala while intervening in the issue, said that his party had earlier come out with a "chargesheet" against the previous Congress government.

Chautala also claimed that through a RTI reply they had come to know that actually 16,000 acres of land had been released by the previous Congress regime from the official acquisition process after it had issued notifications to acquire them for "public purpose".

"The land released is 16,004 acres and not 4500 acres," the INLD leader said.
Chautala said that his party MLAs had often been raising the issues of alleged land scandals of the erstwhile Congress government inside the previous assembly.
BJP's Balwant Singh Sadhaura had raised the issue during the Question Hour and sought to know the district wise details of persons to whom the CLU has been given by the government from 2000 to 2014.

When Abhimanyu informed the House that detailed reply to the question had been provided in a CD, some Congress MLAs sought laptops to read the entire document.
Abhimanyu while taking a veiled dig at the opposition Congress, said, "those who were in the know of things (who were in power for 10 years and knew what was going on) are today so keen to go through the CD that they are seeking laptops."
State Health Minister Anil Vij also took a dig at the Congress members.
"They (Cong MLAs) want to know whether their names are there in the CD or not," Vij said in a lighter vein.

There were heated exchanges between the ruling BJP benches and the Congress members when Abhimanyu was giving his reply to the question.
Anil Vij took strong exception to former Speaker and senior Congress leader Kuldeep Sharma "threatening" a BJP member during the din which prevailed in the House over the issue.
However, Sharma clarified that he had only taken objection to the BJP member speaking without the Speaker's permission.
Verbal duels were also exchanged between Abhay Chautala and Kuldeep Sharma, with INLD reminding the latter that he should remember the days when he was the Speaker "and did not allow the Opposition members to speak".

Sharma, however, shot back at Chautala, saying "I can well understand your sentiments since your party has become BJP's 'B' team".