Sukhvinder Sukhu at Aabhar rally: Committed to transparent, accountable governance: CM

In the rally on Tuesday, CM Sukhu underlined the fact that the state government was committed towards providing a ‘transparent, responsive and accountable’ administration.

The CM said that the state has decided to set up a ‘Chief Minister’s Sukhashray Sahayata Kosh’ with an outlay of Rs 101 crore so that it can meet the basic educational facilities of the children and destitute women. The state government will bear the entire expenditure on skill development education, higher education and vocational training of such children and they will also be given financial assistance from time to time as well, Sukhu said.

Targeting the BJP for questioning the closure of more than 900 government institutions in different parts of the state, the CM said, “The institutions were opened without any budgetary provisions. They were opened by teh previous government simply to lure people to vote for the ruling party as the Assembly elections was coming up. The present government has even cracked a big paper scam which was going on since the tenure of the BJP in the Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission.”

Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri, in turn, said that the government in the last 21 days of its tenure has taken some historic decisions — including the establishment of a Rs 101 crore ‘Chief Minister Sukhashray Sahayata Kosh’ — to ensure lesser privileged children can get adequate financial assistance for higher education as per their choice. Himachal Congress chief Pratibha Singh also thanked the public for trusting and voting for the party in the Assembly polls.

Meanwhile, Sukhu said that efforts would be made to ensure that all district headquarters had a heliport within a year. He added that this will help boost tourism in the hill state.

Clearances have been given for social impact assessments to review the effects of infrastructure projects and other development interventions with regards to the expansion of Kangra-Gaggal Airport and the government will look into the prospect of increasing tourist stay in Dharamsala, he added.

Speaking on de-notifying projects announced by the previous BJP government after April 1, 2022, Sukhu said the new institutions had been opened without budget allocation to woo voters with eye on Assembly polls.

The projects will be reviewed and the institutions opened according to need, he added.
Sukhu, who was accompanied by the Congress’ Himachal Pradesh co-incharge Tajinder Singh Bittu, was given a rousing welcome as he presided over the Abhar rally at Zorawar Stadium near Tapovan here.

“I heavily honour the massive mandate given by the people of Kangra in the assembly elections and I assure you that special focus would be laid on the development of the district in all spheres,” he told reporters.

The chief minister is in Dharamsala to attend the three-day session of the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha from Wednesday.

The schedule for the three days includes administration of oaths to newly elected MLAs, election of the Speaker and the Governor’s address.

As per details, the Assembly session of the newly-elected Sukhu government in Himachal was originally slated to take place in December last year. However, CM Sukhu contracted Covid, leading to a delay in both convening of the government’s first Assembly session, as well as much-awaited Cabinet expansion and distribution of portfolios.