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Himachal Day celebrations: Special allowance for lower-grade Covid warriors, loan subvention for tourism sector
Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday announced ₹1,500 special honorarium for April and May to all the Class-III and IV employees such as staff nurses, ward boys and Asha workers, who deal with Covid patients
Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday announced ₹1,500 special honorarium for April and May to all the Class-III and IV employees such as staff nurses, ward boys and Asha workers, who deal with Covid patients. He also announced loan subvention scheme for three months till June 2021 for the tourism industry.
He said that all hotels, tourist lodges, tourism units will be exempted from paying demand charges for two months with no late charges and option to pay in instalments.
Felicitating the people on Himachal Day, Thakur paid tributes to people who strived hard to accord special identity and status to the state. He also paid respects to state’s first chief minister Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar.
He said the state started its development journey from a scratch. “Himachal today is reckoned among the prosperous and progressive states in the country,” said Thakur.
Listing achievements of his government, the chief minister said Jan Manch programme has proved a boon to the people of the state in redressing their grievances. So far, 200 Jan Manch sessions have been organised in all the assembly constituencies to establish direct communication with the public and resolve their grievances expeditiously. He said that more than 91% complaints and demands received at such events have been redressed.
The CM said the government started Grihni Suvidha Yojna on the analogy of Ujjwala scheme of the Centre and over 2.91 lakh women have been provided free gas connections under this scheme.
State government’s Himcare scheme on the lines of Ayushman Bharat by the Centre covered 1.25 lakh people and provided them free treatment worth ₹129.27 crore.
He said that to create employment and self-employment opportunities, the government launched Mukhyamantri Swavalamban Yojana for those in the age group of 18 to 45 years. Thakur said over 2,700 units have been set up under the scheme by providing a subsidy of ₹70 crore, which eventually provided jobs to 8,500.
Thakur said the state has received several national level awards for its excellent performance in the field of education. Himachal was ranked first in the country in the Annual Status of Education Report 2017-18 and has been awarded the ‘Best Performing State Award’ in the survey conducted by India Today in the year 2019. He said Himachal has become the first state to distribute free textbooks to all students from Classes 1 to 8.
Earlier, the chief minister unfurled the Tricolour and took salute from the contingents of police and home guards.
