HIMACHAL PRADESH

Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday inaugurated the 9th Women National Ice Hockey Championship-2022 at Ice Skating Rink, Kaza in Lahaul Spiti district and said that ice hockey is one of the most popular winter Sports of the world.

Thakur further said that the has recently given approval to the Swaran Jayanti Sports Policy 2021 to give boost to sports activities in Himachal. Under this policy, three percent reservation would be provided to sportspersons in government jobs and the diet Money received by the players would be doubled.

Under the new sports policy, a prize money of Rs 3 crore would be given for winning a gold medal in the Olympics, Winter Olympics or Paralympics. Silver medalist will get Rs 2 crore and the bronze medalist will get Rs. 1 crore Along with this, Rs 15 lakh would be given for participating in the above games and Olympic, Asian, Commonwealth medal winners would be given pension and Arjuna Award, Dhyan Chand Award and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award holders would get monthly salary, he added.

The Chief Minister also said that the State Government has announced the High-Altitude Sports Center in Kaza with an estimated cost of Rs 16 crore. Skate Boots have been provided by the Department of Youth Services and Sports for training the players at a cost of Rs 27 lakhs and Ice rinks have been developed by the administration on a small scale in Lidang, Sagnam, Losar, Tabo, Hikmi, he said.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu inaugurated the five-day national-level Winter Carnival Manali by offering prayers at the historic Hadimba Temple and flagging off the carnival parade.

Sukhu also envisaged keen interest in tableaux presented by Mahila Mandals, various departments and institutions on the occasion.

The Chief Minister, later addressing a public meeting, announced enhancement in Protsahan Rashi ofmahila mandalsfrom Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000. He also announced that an indoor stadium and ice skating rink would be constructed in Manali to promote more tourism and other activities.

Sukhu further announced construction of Manali bypass to ensure smooth flow of vehicles. The wayside facilities would be created at Solang Nallah to facilitate the tourists. This would provide better facilities to the tourists visiting the Atal Tunnel, he said.

Addressing a public meeting at Nohradhar, the Chief Minister said the was about to complete four years of its tenure on 27th of next month, adding that all these years have been full of achievements and accomplishments. He said that several developmental schemes have been launched in the State which has virtually transformed the lives of the common man. He said that on the other hand the Congress Government befooled the people of the State with an eye on the vote bank.

Thakur said that schemes such as Mukhya Mantri Sahara Yojna, Him care and Grihani Suvidha Yojna have ensured that every section of the Society gets benefitted. He said that the previous State Government did nothing for the welfare of the people of the State as they were busy in retaining their power and enjoying the same. He said that the sole aim of the present State Government was to ensure that the pace of development goes uninterrupted. He said that for this constant support of the people was required.

Ahead of the assembly polls inHimachal Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched multi-crore development projects inUna and Chambaduring his visit to the state.

In Una, the Prime Minister flagged off the inaugural run of the new Vande Bharat Express from Amb Andaura, Una to New Delhi and inaugurated the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Una.

The Prime Minister pointed out that Himachal has been chosen as one of the three states to get a bulk drug park.

Underlining the focus on the development of tribal communities, the Prime Minister informed that the government had taken another landmark decision in giving the tribal status to the Hati community of Giripar area of Sirmaur.

With the matter pending before The Supreme Court, the Bill on amendment in HP Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1973 was referred to the Select Committee of the Vidhan Sabha.

Revenue Minister Mahender Singh tabled the amendment in the Vidhan Sabha. However, after a detailed discussion on the issue in which CPM legislator Rakesh Singha, Arun Kumar of the BJP and Congress MLA Ashish Butail participated, the minister agreed to refer it to the Select Committee of the Assembly.

The contentious issue of allowing change of land use of tea gardens for other purposes has been in focus. The previous Congress regime had tried to allow use of tea gardens for tourism in the name of tea tourism. However, the present BJP regime is keen to plug any scope for sale or change of land use of tea gardens that have been retained over and above the limit under the Land Ceiling Act.

He contested that the owners of tea gardens who had not taken benefit of the Land Ceiling Act to retain excess land over and above the prescribed limit should be kept out of the purview of this amendment. He added that the government must retain the powers to acquire land under tea with itself as this land could be required for development works.

The ball has been set rolling for the expansion of the Gaggal airport in Kangra district. The government has issued a notification under Section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act. With this notification, the sale and purchase of the land identified for the airport expansion will be legally barred. The notification also implies that the government will soon acquire the land required for the project.

The Chief Minister has been actively pursuing the project of expansion of Gaggal airport.

In the budget, the government has kept a provision of Rs 2,000 crore for the expansion.

An amount of Rs 400 crore was sanctioned by the Central during the stint of the previous Jai Ram Thakur government.

The government has notified the acquisition of 105 acres. This includes about 65 acres of private land and about 40 acres of government land. The private land, as per the notification, would be acquired in Bagh, Balla, Dukhiyari Khas, Bhedi, Gaggal Khas, Chikli Icchi, Muggardadh, Sohara, Sannor, Rachyal, Jugehar, Badol and Kiyori villages.

Unaided private school managements have questioned the legality of the draft Himachal Pradesh Private Schools (Regulation of Fee and other related matters) Bill-2021. They have dubbed its provisions as arbitrary, which will vest the right of the schools to determine the fee in the government.

The managements said the Bill endangered the autonomy of the institutions and expressed concerns over provisions like suo-motu powers given to the executive to inspect schools even if there is no complaint, and that too, without any notice, seeking approval for the fee hike every year, maintaining only one bank account for transparency and empowering the DC to check the accounts of all private schools every year.

A special session for children was organized on ‘World Day against Child Labour‘ at Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha, Shimla.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the children participating in the ‘Bal Satra’ were fortunate to have got an opportunity to express themselves in Vidhan Sabha, a 98 year old complex which has been a witness to many historical events.

Sukhu observed the proceedings of the children session and congratulated them for participating in this unique event organised for them, which will be go down in the annals of the Vidhan Sabha.

He assured to consider the suggestions for conducting special sessions for practising in schools besides giving his assent to other submissions of the children. The Government has adopted 6000 orphans as ‘Children of the State’, and it was a matter of pride that St. Stephen’s College Delhi has agreed to give admission to three orphan children from Himachal, he said.

The Government has made several provisions in the budget to realize the vision of making Himachal Pradesh a ‘Green Energy State’. The diesel buses of HRTC are being converted into e-buses in a phased manner. Rajiv Gandhi Day-Boarding Schools are being opened in rural areas to bring quality Education. A provision of Rs. 300 crores has been made for these schools, said the Chief Minster.