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Himachal CM Sukhu to present general budget on March 17
The session will begin on Tuesday while chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu would present the budget in the assembly on March 17; there would be total 18 sittings during the session that ends on April 6
The first budget session of the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh is set to be a fiery one with the opposition BJP likely to corner the current dispensation on de-notification of offices, non-fulfilment of its 10 guarantees and the loans it has raised.
The session will begin on Tuesday while chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu would present the budget in the assembly on March 17. There would be total 18 sittings during the session that ends on April 6.
Himachal Pradesh assembly speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania will convene an all-party meeting wherein he would urge the members from both sides to let the House function smoothly.
Budget estimates will be discussed on March 20, 21, 22 and 23 and follow-up demands will be discussed on March 27, 28, 29. The budget will be passed on March 29.
Pathania said the Vidhan Sabha secretariat has received 543 questions (391 online and 152 offline), besides 189 unstarred questions (164 online and 25 offline).
“Most of these questions have been sent to the government for further action as per the rules. Apart from this, four notices under Rule 101 and three under Rule 130 have been received from the honourable members, which have been sent to the government,” he added.
Most of the questions were related to unemployment, poor condition of roads, detailed project reports of approved roads, upgrade of colleges, schools, and health institutions and filling of vacant posts in various departments besides tourism, gardens, and drinking water.
The members of the assembly have also highlighted main issues related to their respective constituencies through questions.
The BJP had held a meeting of its legislature party on March 2 in Shimla to chalk out an elaborate floor strategy for the session.
Sources in the party said that the members decided to vehemently raise the issue of closure of offices and institutions opened by the previous government.
The Congress government has shut down more than 600 offices and institutions opened by the previous BJP government in the last nine months of its tenure. The government alleged that these institutions were opened without proper budget provisions just for political gains.
However, the BJP claimed that the institutions were opened with the approval of the cabinet and provision of an adequate budget was made.
The Opposition would also corner the government over the non-fulfilment of 10 guarantees the Congress had promised before the assembly elections.
The Sukhu-led government has already announced the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme, the first of its 10 guarantees, from April. However, the chief minister’s promise of ₹1,500 to the women above the age of 18 years, one lakh jobs, 300 free units of electricity and other guarantees, the government said, would be fulfilled in a phased manner.
The Opposition is also likely turn up the heat on the government for stopping the grant for MLAs and DCs and raising loans worth ₹3,000 crore in the first three months of its tenure.
Facing financial crisis, the state government has stopped sectoral development funds (SDF) that were given to the deputy commissioners and MLAs to extend immediate help to needy people and for development works.
The Congress and the BJP have been at loggerheads over the financial crisis facing the state.
The current government alleges that it has inherited a debt burden of ₹75,000 crore from the previous regime and it would take at least four years to bring the economy back on track.
The BJP would also raise the issue of appointments of chief parliamentary secretaries, which it says would create wasteful expenditure.
It is also likely to corner the government over abolishing the free uniform scheme for schoolchildren.
