Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu interacting with women at village Dodra Kwarh in Shimla district.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) of spreading lies surrounding Congress’s poll-guarantees and the financial condition of the State.
Launching the ‘Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Nidhi’ – a scheme under which women will be given ₹1,500 per month – for Shimla district at Dodra Kwarh village, Mr. Sukhu said the BJP leaders were repeatedly spreading lies on the guarantees of the Congress Party.
“Ever since ‘Operation Lotus’ failed and the seats of the Congress party increased from 34 to 40 in the Assembly, the BJP has been spreading misleading propaganda.” He said that confusion was being spread about the economic condition of the State and that new gimmicks were being given.
As he released twelve month’s ‘Samman Nidhi’ to 509 eligible women of Dodra-Kwar, a remote village in Shimla, the Chief Minister said that under this scheme, the State government was providing ₹18,000 per year to eligible women in the State.
Govt.’s handling of natural disaster and other schemes
Mr. Sukhu said that the Congress government effectively dealt with the natural disaster last year and gave a special package of ₹4,500 crore to affected families. “The government ensured that apple crops of farmers reached the market so that they did not have to bear financial losses. The government had adopted orphan children as ‘children of the State’. We did not want to leave these children at the mercy of anyone, so we made it the responsibility of the government by making it a law. The government is providing free education to 23,000 children of the widows and single women of the State,” he added, dismissing the concern over State’s financial crunch.
The Chief Minister’s visit was first-of-its-kind through which the government aims to go to the far-off and remote villages to redress grievances of the people at their door-steps. Similar directions have been issued to Ministers as well, so that the people of rural belts in the State need not visit the often distantly located district head quarters to get grievances resolved.
“Under the ‘Vyavastha Parivartan’ initiative and to make the State self-reliant, the government has decided to head towards the villages so that they can be brought to the mainstream by carrying out development works,” he said. He added the State government would take up the matter with the Central government to provide Other Backward Class (OBC) status to Dodra-Kwar area.
In Shimla, Mr. Sukhu, talking to journalists, said that the information surrounding abolition of some posts in various departments is baseless, and part of false propaganda. “There are many such posts in various departments of the government which have not been functional for many years. The designation of those posts is being changed on the basis of current requirements. They are not being abolished and their designation is being changed after completing various formalities,” he said.
Published – October 27, 2024 03:14 am IST
