Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday said tractors should not be included in the policy issued by the Central government to prohibit the plying of 15-year-old petrol and 10-year-old diesel vehicles in the National Capital Region (NCR).

“Talks will be held with the Central Government and some way would be found to resolve this issue. Last time also we had tractors excluded from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) policy,“ Khattar said while speaking to reporters after the discussion held on the Governor’s address during the second day of the ongoing budget session in the Assembly today.

Responding to a question regarding students of Haryana stuck in Ukraine, the CM said even today nine students have reached Mumbai airport. Arrangements have been made to give air travel tickets from Mumbai to Delhi to these students along with a cash amount of Rs 1000 being given on behalf of the Haryana government. Besides this, help desks have been set up in Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Faridabad, he added.

Khattar said all the deputy commissioners have been directed to contact the families of such students at personal level. Faridabad Divisional Commissioner has been made the nodal officer. The CM said the list of 1784 youths of Haryana was received from the Union ministry of external affairs, out of which 83 are not from our state. Out of 1701 Haryana youth, 683 have been brought back.

With about 150 students remaining in Ukraine, efforts are being made to bring all of them back safely, Khattar said. When asked about stopping the pension through Parivar Pehchan Patra, the CM said the pension of any elderly person has not been stopped through PPP, but through this, about 22,000 people have been identified, who are not getting pension due to some reasons. Work for data verification of such persons is being done, he added.

When asked about the stray animals, Khattar said such animals are not only from Haryana but people from states like Rajasthan, Punjab and Gujarat bring them in herds and on their way back they take only milch animals and leave others. The present government has constituted Gau Sewa Aayog and has also increased its Budget. Besides this, grants are also given for setting up gaushalas on Panchayati land in villages, the CM said.