Himachal Ministers Slam PM Modi’s Remarks on State Economy, Highlight Corrective Measures and Achievements
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Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan and Education Minister Rohit Thakur termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on economic condition of Himachal Pradesh as “misleading and unfortunate”. They said that state BJP leaders have tricked the Prime Minister to lie on national platform by presenting a faux picture of state’s economy to him. “Relying on misleading information fed by state BJP leaders, the Prime Minister has made unfortunate statements about Himachal’s economy,” said the ministers, adding that it would have been good if the BJP leaders would have instead made efforts to get released disaster relief fund of Rs. 10 thousand crore long pending with the centre government. “However, the opposition leaders seem interested in pursuing the politics of hate and negativity,” they remarked.
In a joint statement issued here today, the cabinet ministers said that economy of the state was at its lowest today because of the wrong policies adopted by the previous BJP government. Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur adopted politics of appeasement during last few months of his regime in order to repeat his government in the state. Jai Ram Thakur introduced freebies and opened over 900 institutions without any budgetary provision or requirement, which resulted in huge burden on state’s exchequer. “All of this was done for political gains but the intellectual voters of the state outrightly rejected the BJP and gave mandate to the Congress to form a government and serve its people,” said the ministers.
The cabinet ministers said that the Congress government inherited a huge financial debt of over Rs. 85 thousand crore from the BJP government. The debt legacy included loan of over Rs. 75 thousand crore and Rs. 10 thousand crore as pending payments, including DA and arrears, of employees of the state. Our government has implemented various reforms to reduce dependency on loans, they remarked, adding: “There is no financial crisis in the state. The government is ushering Himachal Pradesh into becoming self-reliant and a most progressive state in the country.”
The pensioners and employees of various boards and corporations of Himachal Pradesh were being given salary and pension on the first day of a month, stated the ministers, adding that salaries of government employees were not stopped, instead few corrective measures were being introduced to deal with cash flow mismatch in the treasury.
Harshwardhan Chauhan and Rohit Thakur said that upon assuming power in the state, the Congress government has undertaken various corrective measures which have today started yielding positive results. Efforts were afoot to identify or create additional resources with the potential to increase income of the state. “These efforts have resulted in an improvement in the state’s economy by 20 percent. Additional income of Rs. 2,200 crore has been earned within a year, all credit to corrective measures,” remarked the ministers, adding that the government has no shortage of finances required for the welfare and development of the state and its people.
The cabinet ministers added that the government has fulfilled five out of its 10 guarantees given during the run-up to the Vidhan Sabha elections in 2022 and added that “this is a reflection of the public welfare programmes and policies implemented throughout the state by the government”.
“We reinstated the OPS in our first cabinet, women are being given 1,500 per month, English medium has been started from the first class in all government schools, Rs. 680 Rajiv Gandhi Swarozgaar Start-up Scheme has been implemented and historical increase has been done in Minimum Support Price (MSP) being provided to the farmers for the sale of milk and naturally grown crops,” said the ministers. They added that an MSP for the purchase of cow milk has been increased from Rs. 32 to Rs. 45 and an MSP for the purchase of buffalo milk has been increased from Rs. 47 to Rs. 55. Similarly, naturally grown wheat and maize were being procured at Rs. 40 and Rs. 30 per kilogram, respectively.
Harshwardhan Chauhan and Rohit Thakur added that under the vibrant leadership of Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the government has fixed a target to make Himachal self-reliant by year-2027 and the most progressive state by year-2032. The corrective measures adopted by the state government would prove to be milestones in achieving these targets, the ministers concluded.
