Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu urged the Congress workers to make aware the people about the policies and programs of the state government at grass root level so that they could be made aware of the schemes so that they could derive maximum benefits from the welfare schemes.
He was addressing on the occasion of centennial celebration function of Himachal Pradesh Congress Seva Dal at Dharamshala today. "The congress Seva Dal is the leading organization of the Congress Party dedicated to the service of mankind and I congratulate them on completion of 100 years of Seva Dal's formation", said the Chief Minister adding that the Seva Dal always remains at the forefront to serve the party selflessly for which they are always respected.
The state government has fulfilled three of its ten guarantees during its one year tenure despite the economic crisis. "We have restored the old pension scheme to 1.36 crore government employees, made English compulsory from first class in all the government schools from the next academic and has started the first phase of Rs 680 crore Rajiv Gandhi Self-Employment Start-up Scheme thus fulfilling three guarantee" reiterated Sh. Sukhu.
Apart from this, the government is soon going to start a scheme to provide 40 percent subsidy to the youth on the installation of solar projects ranging between 100 kW to 1 MW. To encourage farmers, the present government is making continuous efforts to provide fair price for milk procurement, said Sh. Sukhu.
Back lashing at the previous BJP government, the Chief Minister reiterated it took excessive loans and pushed the State in fiscal crisis and the brunt of the same was being borne by the present Government. For electoral gains, the former BJP government took a loan of more than Rs 14 thousand crore in the year 2022-23, due to which every person of the State was under debt of more than one lakh rupees.
As we introduced the old pension scheme against the will of the BJP, which they never intended to provide, the Central Government imposed many restrictions on Himachal Pradesh and also reduced the loan limit to Rs 6600 crore.
However, despite all odds, efforts were afoot to bring the derailed economy back on the track. During the one year regime of the Government, the economy of Himachal Pradesh has improved by 20 percent, said the Chief Minister.
"We have to take tough decisions, we are trying to change the system and the old laws, which I am sure will yield better results in the times to come and will help in making the State prosperous" remarked Sh. Sukhu.
Sh. Sukhu said that the state government was taking many steps towards increasing the resources. The state's rights on the River waters were being fought for. Infrastructure was being improved to promote tourism.
An amount of Rs 3000 crore is being spent in the district to make Kangra a tourism capital, foreseeing the economic prosperity in the district. Along with this, a modern milk processing plant is being established at Dhaagwar in the district at a cost of Rs 250 crore, he said. Chairman Tourism Development Corporation Raghubir Singh Bali and MLA Inder Dutt Lakhanpal also spoke on the occasion.
Earlier, the Congress Seva Dal President, Anurag Sharma welcomed the Chief Minister on his arrival and provided detailed information about the programs of the Seva Dal. Himachal Pradesh in-charge of Congress Seva Dal Ram Vilas Rawat, Agriculture Minister Chandra Kumar, MLAs Ravi Thakur, Sudarshan Bablu and Chandrashekhar and other dignitaries including officials and workers of Seva Dal also attended the function.