178 illegal properties of criminals demolished

Chandigarh: A total of 178 illegal properties built by criminals and drug traffickers with the proceeds of crime have been demolished in Haryana, Home Minister Anil Vij said on Monday even as a heated exchange took place between Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and INLD legislator Abhay Chautala over the issue in the Assembly.

During the Question Hour on the first day of the three-day Assembly session, Vij said the state government was tightening the noose around criminals and drug smugglers, who have built illegal properties with the proceeds of crime. He was replying to a question raised by Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MLA Abhay Singh Chautala regarding the demolition of houses of people involved in drug trafficking.

"A total of 178 (illegal) properties including 72 related to criminals involved in narcotics have been bulldozed," Vij said. He said because of the state government's action, criminals were running out of the state. The government will not hesitate in taking strict action against such people, he added.

"Either leave hooliganism or Haryana. We will not allow anyone to indulge in criminal activities," the minister said. "We will enact more stringent laws…" Earlier, there was a verbal duel between Chief Minister Khattar and Chautala over the issue. Khattar said terming the state government's action of demolishing properties of people associated with drug trafficking as "destructive" was ethically wrong. Using such words shows that the Opposition is not happy with the action taken by the government against drug traffickers. We will continue to take the strictest action against the smugglers, he added.

'International Millet Year'

Manohar Lal said that with the efforts of Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi, the United Nations General Assembly has declared the year 2023 as the 'International Millet Year'. It will promote the prevalent ancient diet of millets of India and thus it will also work as 'diet is medicine'. The Chief Minister was speaking after lunch during the ongoing winter session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha here today.

He said when there was a shortage of food grains in the country, the slogan of Green Revolution was given at that time. However, we managed to increase the production of food grains by using indiscriminate chemical fertilizers, but it had an adverse effect on our health, which we are still facing today, he said, adding that a healthy body is our biggest asset and that is why; we are moving towards organic and natural farming.