E-Paper
Opposition BJP corners Himachal government over election guarantees
The opposition BJP cornered the Himachal government over the non-fulfilment of the 10 public guarantees promised by the Congress to the people of the state during assembly elections. During the debate budget for FY 2023-24, opposition challenged government to fulfil the guarantee of ₹1,500 to women by April 6.
The opposition BJP on Wednesday cornered the government over the non-fulfilment of the 10 public guarantees promised by the Congress to the people of the state during assembly elections.
During the debate budget for FY 2023-24, the opposition also challenged the government to fulfil the guarantee of ₹1,500 to women by April 6.
On the other hand, the ruling party defended the government and termed the budget as a document prepared to keep in mind the needs of the future.
Initiating the debate on the budget, public works minister Vikramaditya Singh said that it is the responsibility of his government to live up to the expectations of the people who have entrusted a big responsibility to run the state to the Congress.
Keeping the aspirations of the people in mind, the minister said chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has presented a historic budget despite adverse circumstances.
Vikramaditya Singh said that the budget has been prepared to keep in view the future. He said that many things have happened for the first time in the budget. He said that a new vision is mentioned in the budget and it is a development-oriented budget. He said that in order to increase the income, the government has talked about water cess in the budget and the open auction of liquor contracts has fetched much more revenue than last year.
The public works minister said that in the last five years, development had taken place only in a few assembly constituencies and the allocation of funds was uneven. He said that in some areas ₹100 crore to ₹150 crore was allocated for development while in some the figure reached up to ₹750 crore. He alleged that the BJP government had neglected the MLAs of its own party. He said that the Congress government would ensure uniform development of the entire state and its results would be visible in the coming times.
He said that before the 2017 assembly elections, Union minister Nitin Gadkari had announced 69 national highways (NH) and today the situation is that its number has been reduced to nine. He said that the previous government could not bring even a single NH in the state. He said that there is a mention in the budget to make Kangra a tourist capital and a detailed plan is being prepared for it. He said that the budget has also talked about employment and about one lakh people will get employment in government and private sector. He said that the government has also taken care of social security and provision has been made in the budget.
Participating in the budget discussion, BJP MLA Satpal Satti attacked the Congress government on its 10 guarantees.
He said that before the elections, Congress promised the women of the state ₹1,500 per month and got their forms filled up by moving door to door but these women haven’t got a single penny to date.
Satti said that Congress had talked about implementing OPS from January 1 but this guarantee too remains unfulfilled.
He slammed the ruling party for “neglecting” Kangra as only one MLA from the district has been made the minister.
This government cries of fund shortage, Satti said, and if there was no money why the government appointed chief parliamentary secretaries, advisors with cabinet rank and officers on special duty (OSDs).
MLA Rajesh Dharmani said that efforts have been made to stop wasteful expenditure in the budget.
Sundernagar legislator Rakesh Jamwal, Rampur MLA Nand Lal and Bilaspur MLA Trilok Jamwal also took part in the discussion.
