PRIs will be strengthened further: Khattar

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said today that his government will further strengthen thePanchayati Raj Institutions in the state.
'Chief Minister's Good Governance Associates' (CMGGAs) will work in this direction and prepare details, Khattar said while presiding over a meeting of CMGGAs at Ashoka University here.
CMGGAs were earlier appointed with the "objective of ensuring good governance and transparency in the working of the district administration".
Reviewing various services and facilities being provided to the citizens by the government, Khattar said the key objective for the government was to ensure timely delivery of various services and facilities to the citizens by different departments.

"The CMGGAs should continue to work better with the administrative and departmental machinery in all districts to further improve the systems and processes for the same," he said.
"You (CMGGAs) should do your work more proactively to make systems and processes more efficient and transparent using the analysis, calculations and skills, besides, to explore more possibility and areas by using information technology so that the access to services and facilities could be made more comprehensive," he added.

Khattar exhorted them to put in place special efforts for completion of ongoing development works under the 'CM's announcements' in the time bound period.

The Chief Minister said that providing corruption free environment was among the top priority of the BJP government.
CMGGAs can play a significant role in this direction, he said.
Khattar, while speaking at a separate function here, announced that every year September 17 would now be celebrated as 'Rajkiya Shram Divas'.
He also announced to increase the minimum wages being given to unskilled workers in government departments "under DC rate from Rs 8,100 to Rs 9,260, that of semi skilled workers from Rs 9,000 to Rs 10,286, skilled workers from Rs 10,000 to Rs 11,430 and highly skilled workers from Rs 11,000 to Rs 12,570 per month".

The benefit of the increased wages would be given to them from January 1, 2016, an official statement said.
Khattar also announced that a new 100 bedded ESI hospital would be opened at Bahadurgarh in district Jhajjar and 150 bedded hospital at Bawal.
He said that the 80 bedded ESI hospital in Jagadhari, 50 bedded ESI hospital in Faridabad and 75 bedded ESI hospital in Panipat would be upgraded as 100 bedded hospitals.
Khattar inaugurated the first government canteen by launching the Antyodaya Aahaar Yojana. He also announced that 60,000 sewing machines would be given to women labourers.
The chief minister also distributed a total of Rs 32.12 crore to 40,566 labourers under various schemes including Rs 1.77 crore, which were transferred directly into bank accounts of 1,525 beneficiaries under various schemes.

Khattar said that the amount being given to registered labourers for purchasing tools in every three years has now been increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000.
Speaking on the occasion, Haryana's minister of state for Labour and Employment, Nayab Singh said that at present, more than 5.62 lakh labourers were registered who were availing the benefits of various schemes of the department.