Haryana: 30% police posts vacant, government informs assembly

At least 30% sanctioned posts are lying vacant in the Haryana police, parliamentary affairs minister Mahipal Dhanda stated in the House on Monday. Importantly, out of 357 sanctioned posts for HCS-rank officers in districts and other units, 70 are lying vacant. Responding to a question raised by INLD MLA Arjun Chautala, Dhanda said 84,765 posts (79,063 uniformed and 5,702 non-uniformed posts) of various ranks are there, of which, 25,631 (23,189 uniformed and 2,442 non-uniformed posts) of various ranks are vacant.

Dhanda also informed that permission to fill up 7,310 various categories of vacant posts has been granted by the state government to the police department and a process of recruitment through HSSC and HPSC has been initiated. “In addition, proposals to fill up 2,908 posts of various categories/ranks are under process with the government. The police department has engaged 11,052 numbers of special police officers (SPOs) and 10,196 numbers of home guard volunteers (HGVs) to assist the force to maintain law and order,” he added.

No paper leak in HPSC, but three in HSSC

The state government informed the House that there has been no such case in the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) since 2014 in which any paper leak has been proved.

In a written reply to the question of Dabwali MLA Aditya Devilal, the state government stated that 29 FIRs were registered with regards to three leaks by the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC). The INLD MLA had sought to know the name of the posts for which the examination papers conducted by the HPSC and the HSSC have leaked from the year 2014 to 2024-25.

“In the case of a written test for the 383 posts of veterinary surgeon (Group-B) in the animal husbandry and dairying department on January 15, 2023, some applicants had filed a petition before the Punjab and Haryana high court, alleging leakage. In compliance with the HC directions on February 09, 2023, the HPSC requested the DGP to conduct an inquiry, which is still underway. Since the inquiry was taking time, the commission cancelled the said examination on November 17, 2023,” the written reply stated.

The commission had issued the schedule for the exam of male constable (August 2021), gram sachiv (January 2021) and assistant lineman (March 2020). All three recruitment exams were leaked, cancelled and later re-scheduled, results for all have been declared between 2022-2024.

Karnal Medical College to get cardiology services through PPP mode

Due to poor response to fill the posts of specialist doctors at Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College, Karnal, the state government has decided to move to public private partnership (PPP) mode.

This was stated by health minister Arti Singh Rao, while responding to a question by Karnal MLA Jagmohan Anand. The BJP MLA flagged the issue of vacant post of cardiologist and neurosurgeon at the college, on which the minister stated that despite five advertisements in this regard, there has been poor response.

Anand stated that the poor response could be due to low salaries offered for the posts. On this, Rao said that Haryana Medical Services Corporation Limited (HMSCL) has been asked to float a Request for Proposal (RFP) to start super-specialty interventional cardiology services with cardiothoracic surgery facility through PPP mode.    

No CT scan/MRI machine at Nuh hospital

The state government has floated a tender to install a CT scan and MRI machine in the civil hospital of Nuh’s Mandikhera, which has 790 patient footfall in the OPD. This was stated by minister Rao, while responding to a question by INC MLA from Ferozepur Jhirka.

Meanwhile, CM Saini said the state government has been working continuously to provide state-of-the-art healthcare facilities for its citizens. Fully equipped hospitals are being developed at the district level across the state. So far, 10 such hospitals have been dedicated to the public, offering advanced facilities including CT scan, ultrasound, MRI, and modern laboratories. Work is currently underway on 22 more hospitals,” he said.

“Before 2014, the state used to get only about four specialist doctors annually, whereas today this number has risen to nearly 200. Similarly, MBBS seats, which stood at just 700 in 2014, have now increased to more than 2,500 due to the focused efforts of the present government,” he added.

Congress stages walkout

On the last day of the session, Opposition Congress staged a walkout lodging protest against speaker Harvinder Kalyan for not accepting adjournment motion, calling attention motion and others.

Immediately after the question hour was over, Congress Legislature Party leader and leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda asked Kalyan as to why short duration, adjournment motion and calling attention notices were not accepted by the chair?

As Hooda was speaking, other Congress MLAs stood up in support. The speaker pointed out that he has already accepted a no-confidence motion and a lengthy discussion took over it. Kalyan said he has announced his decision and continued with the house proceedings.

At around 12:04 pm, Hooda and other MLAs walked out, but returned after two minutes to rejoin the proceedings.