Himachal Budget Session from Feb 16, says Sukhu

Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla, however, declined the request, saying that a special session was unnecessary as the Budget Session was already scheduled in the near future.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said following the governor’s advice, the government has decided not to convene a special session. “The Governor returned the file pertaining to our demand to hold a special session. The Governor’s office has also conveyed to the state government that the special session can be called at another time. We have accepted the Governor’s advice to hold the budget session. The issue of discontinuation of the RDG will definitely be discussed during the budget session.”

The BJP MLAs, meanwhile, will not attend an all-party meeting proposed by the government on Sunday, citing prior scheduled engagements. Speaking to the media after the MLAs’ Priority Meeting, BJP’s Rakesh Jamwal said several party legislators had already returned to their constituencies after Friday’s meeting. He added that Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur had conveyed that if the government wished to convene a meeting, it should fix a separate date and inform all BJP MLAs well in advance. Jamwal clarified that there was no call to boycott the meeting.

BJP MLA Vipin Parmar said that the MLA Priority Meeting, chaired by Sukhu, was just a formality. Parmar said that issues related to the Public Works Department, Jal Shakti Department, and pending Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) were prominently raised during the meeting.

He said that funds for roads, flow irrigation schemes, and drinking water projects had been awaiting approval for several years, but DPRs had not even been prepared. He demanded that if the government was convening Priority Meetings, the allocation under the MLAs’ priority kitty should be increased so that essential development works could be completed on time at the local level. He said two instalments of the MLA Local Area Development fund—released in four phases and meant for disaster relief or emergent works—had been discontinued. Even the instalment that was released, he claimed, had not been disbursed from the treasury despite approval at the Deputy Commissioner level.