Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today while addressing the public gathering at Pragpur said that the state government stands firmly with the people on the issue of notifying the area adjacent to Pong Dam an eco-sensitive zone, remarked the Chief Minister. He said that efforts were being made to promote tourism activities in the Pong Dam area and schemes worth Rs 100 crore were being commenced in the times to come, he added.
The Chief Minister said that due to the financial mismanagement of the previous government, today every Himachali has a debt of more than one lakh rupees. The present state government inherited a burden of thousands of crore from the previous BJP government and now we were working hard to bring the economy back on track.
He said that efforts were being made to strengthen the rural economy. Milk purchase rates have been increased by six rupees and a Rs 250 crore milk processing plant is being constructed at Dhagwar in Kangra district. Besides announcing 20 thousand jobs in the government sector, steps were also being taken towards providing self-employment opportunities to the youth and Rs 680 crore Rajiv Gandhi Self-Employment Start-up Scheme has been launched, said Sh. Sukhu. So far, 1200 youth applied for e-taxi permits under this scheme and the government is providing a 50 per cent subsidy. Financial assistance for setting up solar energy projects would also be provided under the second phase of the scheme and electricity produced would be purchased from them for 25 years, to provide them a fixed income.
Sukhu said that the standard of education has declined due to the negligence of the previous BJP government. Various reports on the reading ability of the students were alarming. He said that from the next academic session, English medium from class first in government school will be started and resources will be used better by creating clusters.
The Chief Minister said that despite having a debt of Rs 75 thousand crore and liabilities of government employees worth Rs 10 thousand crore, the state government released a special relief package of Rs 4500 crore for the disaster affected.
The BJP failed to stand with the people of the state during the disaster and its MPs did not even once go to meet the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to seek help for the disaster-affected Himachal. BJP MLAs did not support the proposal to declare the natural calamity in Himachal Pradesh as a national disaster and they were just doing politics. He said that while the present state government was working to make Himachal self-reliant, the BJP has become anti-Himachali and the previous BJP government sold the state's interests in the power project.
He said that the state government has fulfilled its election guarantee by re-instating OPS. The government provided Children of the State status to 4000 orphans, under which the state government will bear the expenses of their care, education and hostel. He said that the state government will also bear the expenses of education of widows' children and the scheme for this will be finalized in the upcoming budget.
Senior Congress leader Surendra Mankotia said that without the help of the central government and despite limited resources, the state government gave a special relief package of Rs 4500 crore to the disaster affected people of the state. He said that 84 families were benefited in Pragpur as well and installments of Rs 3 lakh each have been released to them. He said that the Chief Minister provided exemplary leadership during the disaster, which was praised by the NITI Aayog, World Bank and other organizations. He said that the state government has given the status of tourism capital to Kangra district and this will benefit the residents of Kangra as well as Hamirpur and Una.
Pradhan Gram Panchayat Pragpur presented a cheque of Rs 11 thousand for the Mukhya Mantri Sukh-Aashraya Yojana and local resident Ranjana Patial presented a cheque of Rs 50 thousand towards the Disaster Relief Fund to the Chief Minister on the occasion.
Chief Minister's wife Kamlesh Thakur, Treasurer Himachal Pradesh Congress, Dr. Rajesh Sharma, Mandal President, Kushal Sipahiya, Deputy Commissioner Dr. Nipun Jindal, SP Shalini Agnihotri and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.