The is committed for the welfare of tribal areas and has enhanced the budget under Tribal Sub-Plan, said Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur while interacting with mediapersons at Reckong Peo.
He said the government offices would also function with 30 per cent staff. He expressed satisfaction that the number of Covid cases had been decreasing 40,000 to 18000 but the increase in the number of deaths was still a matter of concern.
It was inaugurated by Yogoda Satsanga Society of India vice-president Swami Smaranananda Giri. He completed his PhD in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the IIT-Kharagpur and a post-doctoral fellowship from Concordia University in Montreal (Canada).
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said that rural areas could be re-merged into panchayats if their residents desire so in the future as the Population of the Solan would cross the stipulated 50,000 mark after the 2021 Census.
The Chief Minister while urging the people to vote for BJP candidates said the State Government had ensured balanced and equitable development of all areas, especially those which had remained neglected during the Congress tenure. He also accused the Congress leaders for misguiding people by raking up non-issues in a bid to divert attention from core issues of development.
The grim national economy has prevented the Centre from offering any help to the hill state in the Union Budget earlier this month. Rising demands of the employee organisations for higher scales, regularisation of jobs, removal of pay anomalies, etc, has aggravated his problems in the election year as meeting them will need thousands of crores of rupees.
Major challenges before the Chief Minister are huge debt liabilities, and compulsion of announcing special packages to small and medium industries, creation of jobs, addressing the sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities like petrol and diesel, besides enhancing the allocations in MGNREGA, Health, Education, etc.
The latest report of CAG has made a startling revelation that Himachals debt burden has mounted to Rs 62,212 crore in the financial year 2019-20 as compared to previous year i.e. Rs 53,147 crore. This needs to be addressed in the upcoming budget on urgent basis.
Twin factors, checking fiscal deficit and debt liabilities, make it necessary to increase allocation in capital expenditures which was pegged at Rs 11,701 crore in 2021-22. It was a huge dip of 31.81 per cent as compared to 2020-21 (Rs 17,449) and 3 per cent down from previous year i.e. 2019-20 (Rs 12,333 crore).
TheGoods and Service Tax(GST) collection inHimachal Pradeshregistered an increase of 25% in February, amounting to a collection of Rs 377 crore.
The GST collection in the current financial year so far is Rs 4,933 crore, which is 21% more than the previous year.
The department has trained around 450 tax officers recently and verified 12 lakh e-way bills during road checking in the current fiscal.
The department is also committed to improve voluntary compliance with time-bound redressal of the issues of the stakeholders, he said.
In the wake of subsidence of Joshimath in Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has directed the departments concerned to identify areas prone to Earthquakes, particularly in Chamba, Kangra, Kullu and Kinnaur districts They have also been directed to prepare a detailed report on landslides and sinking zones in the state.
The Chief Minister directed the officials to develop an advance warning system to mitigate disasters and improve Disaster Management response capacity.
He stressed the need to adopt measures to strengthen the response system, besides preparedness at the institutional and individual level. He examined damage caused and loss to life and property due to various disasters in the past few years.
For the first time, ropeway projects will be included under the MLA priority schemes, as the guidelines for funding from are being modified.
Aerial ropeways are one of the most suited modes of transportation, both for men and material in the hilly terrain, but Himachal has not had much success with it. A few ropeways have been set up but these are primarily tourist attractions at popular destinations.
Sources said that decks had been cleared for the first ropeway under the MLA priority scheme to be funded by NABARD in Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakurs Seraj Assembly constituency in Mandi district. Approval had been given to set up an aerial ropeway between Pandoh and Baglamukhi. The ropeway with a span of 8.560 km would cost Rs 50 crore.
The sources said that directions had been issued for amending the guidelines for funds from NABARD under the MLA priority schemes so that other legislators, too, could propose aerial ropeway projects under their priority schemes. A proposal for aerial ropeways was gathering dust in files. These were to be set up especially in rural areas where these would be used as a mode of transportation and not as a tourist attraction.
Himachal has again got the top ranking in the drinking water quality, Jal Shakti Minister Mahender Singh Thakur said.
Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat would present the award on Gandhi Jyanti and Swachh Bharat Diwas at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
During a comprehensive survey of tap functionality, the state had been ranked first in the quality of drinking water service delivery. Last year too, the state had secured the top position in water quality and tap functionality in a similar survey, he said.
The minister said the state was continuously getting the full financial support from the Centre for the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). The Centre had made a financial provision of Rs 1,344.94 crore for the state this year and released the second instalment of Rs 336.23 crore on September 30. He said the Centre and had provided Rs 3,820.61 crore under the JJM.
Accepting the long pending demand of college and university teachers,Himachal Pradeshchief minister Jai RamThakuron Tuesday announced that they would be provided UGC scales and notification in this respect would be issued within a month. Thakur made this announcement after formally dedicating second university of Himachal Pradesh atMandiby inaugurating two blocks of the university constructed at a cost of Rs 16.18 crore.
Over 141 government and private colleges of Mandi, Kangra, Chamba, Lahaul Spiti and Kullu districts have been included under this state university named asSardar PatelUniversity, Mandi.
Himachal Pradeshwill soon have complete coverage of scientific data for weather forecasting as the mulls to set up two moreDoppler Radar StationsinKinnaurandLahaul-Spitidistricts to predict the Weather forecast.
This step will enhance the alert system to predict future weather trends, while alerting meteorologists to upcoming Precipitation, storms or severe weather, which will help to adopt the safety measures much in advance.
The Doppler Radar Technology will enable the meteorologists to accurately forecast the arrival of precipitation and ability to forecast the location, the intensity and severity of the bad weather and to highlight whether theres a high or low Probability of danger to life and property. The frequent occurrence of heavy rains, thunderstorms and hailstorms in Himachal, makes it even more pertinent to have these radar stations, thereby enhancing the weather monitoring capabilities, enabling the administration to make early arrangements to mitigate damages caused by disasters and to ensure safety of life.