BJP to revive Antodaya scheme in HP

DHARAMSALA, June 15: The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to revive the Antodaya scheme in the state shortly to uplift the poorest of...

DHARAMSALA, June 15: The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to revive the Antodaya scheme in the state shortly to uplift the poorest of poor masses.

Talking to media persons at Kangra last evening, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the BJP Government would formally announce the re-start of the Antodaya scheme, after reviewing all the possibilities and existing projects on these lines. “We are not against the reservation provision under the Mandal categorisation, but there should be efforts to benefit all people below the poverty line”, he said, adding that the Congress Government had abandoned the beneficial scheme which took economic criterion into consideration, for political reasons as it was launched by the BJP in the state.

The Chief Minister said the Central Government had okayed a school of nursing for Dharamsala where classes would begin from the forthcoming session. He said a grant of Rs 18.75 lakh had already been received from Centre for the purpose and the building for school, to be associated with Tanda Medical College and zonal hospital Dharamsala, would be completed soon. “The school is going to benefit the students of lower merged areas in a big way and it would be run on the analogy of the other four nursing schools of Shimla, Mandi, Bilaspur and Nahan”, he added.

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Prem Kumar Dhumal said the Defence Ministry had been sympathetic enough to consider Himachal’s lingering demand for restoration of quota in recruitment of jawans. “The defence minister has assured to fill up the vacancies left out from recruitment in other states, from Himachal”, he held.

Dhumal said the Central Government had finally cleared the Shah Nehar project with proportional allocation of budget to Himachal and Punjab.

The Chief Minister said the ensuing budget session would begin on June 30 and end by July 31. He said the state government had decided that there would be separate standing committees to discuss the proceedings of the budget session for the first time.

Dhumal lashed out at the Congress government for playing with the career of the students of Sundernagar Dental College. He said that the government would inquire into the “unjust admissions to the college which were done at the cost of intelligent students”. Dhumal was in town to attend a Rajput Sabha function.

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