The Centre has approved an engineering college in Bilaspur town of Himachal Pradesh.
The college will be set up in a joint venture with the National Thermal Power Corporation and the National Hydro Power Corporation.
“A notification was issued by the Centre in this regard recently and an amount of Rs 75 crore has been sanctioned,” said state chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. The college will produce engineers with special focus on building hydro power projects.
The chief minister said five polytechnic colleges would also be set up across the state.
Speaking about the impact of the drought in the state since the last six months, Dhumal said, “most of the wheat crop in the lower hills has been destroyed due to the prolonged dry spell since irrigation is only available in about 15 per cent of the growing area.”
When asked about the implementation of the Sixth Punjab pay Commission recommendation in Himachal he said, the state was bound to implement these recommendations, but the details of the report were not yet completely known and it remained to be seen if the Punjab government implemented it entirely.