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Himachal budget session: Special development goal rankings: Jai Ram pats his govt’s back
Says the loans government raised in the last two years were much less than the permissible limit fixed by the Centre
Himachal Pradesh being ranked as the second best state for achieving the targets under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is one of the biggest achievements of the current government, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said in the house on Wednesday.
Apart from this, Himachal stood first in achieving five goals out of 17, the CM said while replying to the motion of thanks on the governor’s address in the state assembly.
Thakur said solving of 90% complaints during public grievances redressal programme Jan Manch; signing of MoUs worth ₹97,000 crores during the Global Investors’ Meet at Dharamshala; creation of over 4,000 jobs and approval to filling up of 20,000 posts were some other major achievements.
“So, leader of opposition’s remark on no government achievements mentioned in governor’s addressed and it being a political document was unwarranted,” said the chief minister.
Had we not performed, Thakur said, we would not have got the historic mandate in all the 68 assembly constituencies in the Lok Sabha election.
On the issue of loans raised by the state government, the CM said that borrowing to some extent was unavoidable. “The loans state government has raised in the last two years were much less than the permissible limit fixed by the central government. Opposition leaders were trying to mislead the public on the issue,” said Thakur.
He added that these loans were much less than those raised in the last two years of the Congress regime.
Regarding jobs being given to outsiders, Thakur said the government has amended the Recruitment and Promotion Rules for Class-III and Class-IV posts to ensure maximum government jobs to Himachal youths.
Speaking on inflation, the CM said that prices of cooking gas and other essential commodities had gone up due to rise in fuel prices in the international market.
“The state is also dependent on the other state for the food stuffs due to which it becomes difficult to control the prices,” he said.
Thakur said that the state government has constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to save apple growers from being duped by commission agents, adding that the SIT had so far received 950 complaints of which 525 had been resolved and cases had been registered against 91 complaints.
The CM said his government was taking various steps to create employment opportunities in the state. “The government has launched Skill Development Allowance Scheme under which campus interviews and job fairs are being organised to provide jobs to youths,” he said.
He refuted the charges of allocation of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) funds to only two assembly segments.
He also said that the law and order situation was under control in the state and crimes have declined significantly under the BJP regime.
Earlier, the Congress created ruckus in the house during the debate on the governor’s address. The opposition members moved into the well and raised slogans against the government.
The two sides locked horns when Congress legislator Jagat Singh Negi spoke about the abrogation of Article 370. He said at the time of Independence, Jammu and Kashmir was in favour of merger with Pakistan, but sided with India on then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s request. This enraged the ruling benches and led to a heated exchange.
