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HP: Jai Ram leads ‘Jan Aakrosh’ rallies in Palampur, Dharamshala
Former HP chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said all these offices and institutions were opened by the previous government to facilitate the people of far-off areas with due approval of the cabinet and proper budget provisions
Launching a stinging attack on the incumbent Congress government in Himachal for denotifying offices and institutions opened during his tenure, leader of opposition in the state assembly, Jai Ram Thakur, on Sunday said that current chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu would be known as ‘Lock Priya (lock loving) mukhya mantri’.
“All these offices and institutions were opened by the previous government to facilitate the people of far-off areas with due approval of the cabinet and proper budget provisions,” Jai Ram said while leading ‘Jan Aakrosh’ rallies in Palampur and Dharamshala of politically significant Kangra district.
The rallies were part of the BJP’s statewide stir against government move to shut down offices and institutions.
“It seems that CM Sukhu was on a quest to create an identity for himself and this was what his advisers suggested him,” Jai Ram claimed.
“Sukhu has put lock on almost everything, be it the industry, college, health institutions, subdivisional offices or tehsils,” he added.
He said Congress had promised to change the system and this was what they brought. “Even a police post opened in 1952 at Sundernagar was denotified,” he said.
The leader of opposition said that he had urged the CM to stop this, but he was adamant.
Refuting the charges that the offices and institutions were opened without budgetary provisions, Jai Ram said when a CM makes an announcement, it is automatically included in the budget.
“Moreover, these announcements were approved in the cabinet meeting,” he added.
Taking a jibe at the government over Adani Group-owned cement companies and truckers’ dispute, he said it was for the first time in the history of the state that cement plants remained shut for 70 days.
In the end, when an agreement was reached, the truckers got the fare less than what they had already been getting.
Jai Ram said if the state government failed to reopen the offices and institutions shut down by it, the BJP would further intensify its stir and even move high court and, if need be, the Supreme Court.
