Support to continue, reassures Sukh Ram

BILASPUR, Nov 15: Himachal Vikas Congress president Sukh Ram reiterated the stand of his party to continue supporting Dhumal-led government,...

BILASPUR, Nov 15: Himachal Vikas Congress president Sukh Ram reiterated the stand of his party to continue supporting Dhumal-led government, but said it all depended on the BJP as to how long it would last.

He was addressing an open rally at Ghumarwin, 30 kms from here yesterday.

The rally was attended by top brass of the party including Public Works Minister Mohinder Singh, Minister of State for Rural Development Ram Lal Markandey, Vijay Joshi, O.P. Rattan, Kewalram Chauhan, Ramnath Sharma and Chowdhary Dharam Singh. The notable absentees included Minister of Food and Civil Supplies Mansha Ram and Minister of State for Animal Husbandry Parkash Chowdhary.

Sukh Ram said support of his party to BJP was promoted by the fact that he wanted to free the state from the repression allegedly let loose by former chief minister Virbhadra Singh.

He held delayed action on part of central government responsible for the steep hike in prices and said timely action would have saved the situation. He assured that being the chairman of employment generating committee, he would ensure creation of more jobs for youth in the state.

Several panchayat functionaries announced their decision to join HVC. The party honoured 20 freedom fighters and their widows besides honoring Victoria Cross holder Bhandari Ram and noted General Dayal on the occasion.CO-OP SYSTEM TO BE REVAMPED: The state government would soon revamp the cooperative system on Gujarat pattern. Under this, irrigation schemes would be undertaken in cooperative sector besides promoting dairy farming and poultry farm on big scale.

This was announced by Minister of State for Cooperatives Rikhiram Kondal while formally inaugurating the three-day long Cooperative Mela at Bassi, 80 kms from here yesterday. He said presently there were 4,437 cooperative societies in the state, with a working capital of Rs 839.50 crore.

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Expressing his dissatisfaction over the functioning of Himfed, dealing with supply of fertilisers, he assured that its functioning would be improved to make timely supply to farmers.

He said 122 branches of state co-operative banks were functioning in rural areas of the state. He said district cooperative bank committees had been empowered to sanction loans up to Rs 6 lakh to help farmers purchase costly tools and machinery to boost their yield.