The Congress walked out of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday as Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said during Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar’s address that the previous government had taken more loans than his government. Chief Minister Thakur said that the debt on Himachal Pradesh increased by 67 per cent during the previous Congress government, as against 32 per cent during the present government, despite the fact that the COVID pandemic has badly affected the economy.
He said that Himachal Pradesh is currently facing a debt burden of Rs 63,200 crore. Thakur said that till the financial year 2017-18, the state had a debt of about Rs 48,000 crore. He said that the previous Congress government had taken a loan of Rs 28,707 crore during its five-year tenure from 2012-13 to 2017-18.
Thakur alleged that the previous Congress government had not launched any major welfare scheme for the public, while the present government had started several schemes including reducing the age of old age pension from 80 to 70. The Chief Minister said that the state government has decided to confiscate the properties of those involved in illegal mining. Talking about the Jan Manch program launched by the present government, Thakur said that during 242 Jan Manch programmes, a total of 83,478 public grievances were addressed at the doorsteps of the people. The CM said that every state is facing unemployment. However, 2,131 people have set up their own business under Mukhyamantri Swabhavalamban Yojana by investing 100 crores in the state, creating employment for themselves and providing employment to many others.
Apart from this, 18,218 people have been helped under Mukhyamantri Sahara Yojana. He said that more than 20,000 stray cattle have been sheltered by opening new cow palkis and cow sanctuaries in the state as compared to just 6,000 during the previous Congress government. He said that Himachal is the only state where every household has been given gas connection. The Chief Minister, during his reply, informed the House that so far 108 Himachalis have been safely evacuated from Ukraine and brought to India. Thakur said that now there are no Himachali students in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, though some are still stuck in Kharkiv, where an Indian student from Karnataka was killed. Stating that he interacted with the stranded students and their parents through video calls, Thakur said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was doing everything possible for their evacuation.
Earlier participating in the discussion, Congress MLA Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu alleged that the central government has failed to evacuate Indian students from Ukraine in time. He said that around 10-11 students from Himachal Pradesh are still stuck in Kharkiv. Chief Minister Thakur further informed the state assembly that the death toll in the blast at an illegal firecracker factory in Una has risen to 11.
The main accused Rohit Puri was arrested from Mumbai by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by DIG Sumedha Dwivedi on Wednesday, Thakur informed the House. On February 22, the day of the explosion, six migrant workers were killed and 14 others were injured in the blast. Later, five more people succumbed to the burns.
Earlier, the factory manager Deepak Kumar Rana was arrested on February 23. A total of 41 MLAs, including 20 from the ruling Congress, 19 of the Congress and one each from the CPIM and an independent, participated in the discussion on the Governor’s address for over 15.30 hours.
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