CM Sukhu resolves to make HP corruption-free, put economy back on rails

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Wednesday said his government will make Himachal Pradesh corruption-free state and put the economy back on rails.

He also announced plans to start robotic surgery facilities at the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital at Tanda and Hamirpur medical college to provide better health facilities at affordable rates for the people.

Presiding over the 53rd Statehood Day function at Hamirpur, Sukhu said his government to root out graft and make the state corruption-free.

Asserting that graft would not be allowed at any level and corrupt elements would be put behind bars, he said suspension of HP Subordinate staff selection commission was a step in this direction.

Blaming the previous BJP government for putting the state under debt liability of Rs 75,000 crore and committed liabilities of over Rs 11,000 crore pertaining to arrears and DA of employees and pensioners, Sukhu said his government was determined to bring the economy back on rails and fulfil all the poll promises despite the financial crunch.

However, some harsh decisions are inevitable to generate resources for fulfilling the promises and the government has already given the benefit of Old Pension Scheme (OPS) to 1.36 lakh employees, Sukhu said.

It was not a political decision but a sincere move to provide social security to retired employees, he said.

Referring to employment generation, Sukhu said a new investment policy will be put in place that envisages grant of interest-free loans to youth to start new enterprises and the tourism sector would receive special attention.

In order to provide social security and dignified living to children in orphanage and single women, the government has set up the Chief Minister's 'Sukh-Ashray Sahayata Kosh' with an corpus of Rs 101 crore for funding their higher education, including vocational training in engineering colleges, IIIT, NIT, IIM, IIT, polytechnic institutes, nursing and degree colleges, Sukhu said.

Rajiv Gandhi Model Day-Boarding Schools would be opened in each assembly constituency in a phased manner for providing education to the poor children, he said.

Upcoming technical courses like robotics, blockchain technology, cyber security, cloud computing, data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning will be put in the curriculum of ITI, polytechnic, and engineering colleges to make the pass outs employable.

Earlier, the chief minister unfurled the Tricolour amid inclement weather and took a salute from the contingents of HP police, Home guards and NCC cadets.

He also inspected the parade on this occasion.

Paying rich tributes to the state's first chief minister Dr YS Parmar, Sukhu said Himachal Pradesh attained statehood on January 25, 1971, and became the 18th state of the country due to untiring efforts of Dr Parmar.

Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, cabinet ministers Chander Kumar, Harshwardhan Chauhan, Rohit Thakur, Anirudh Singh, chief parliamentary secretaries and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.