Three medical colleges to be opened in Himachal

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh Saturday said the state would open three medical colleges and one of them would be located in Hamirpur district.

Addressing a gathering at Patlandar village in Hamirpur district, he said this area had made rapid strides in development.

"The state government has decided to open three medical colleges and one of them would be opened in Hamirpur for which a provision of Rs.190 crore has been made."

Taking a jibe at the opposition BJP, he said a few people have been accusing him of a vindictive attitude towards certain areas whereas he has always considered the entire state as one and believed in equal and balanced development of all areas.

Without naming the leader of opposition and BJP leader Prem Kumar Dhumal, Virbhadra Singh said a few opposition leaders were saying that the government was harassing them politically but the fact was that before assembly elections the Congress party had submitted a chargesheet against the then BJP government.

"After assuming power, the Congress government fulfilled its promise made to the people and fair, and transparent inquiry is being conducted by the investigating agencies. Nobody is above the law and anybody found guilty would not be spared, however, influential he might be," he added.

The Hamirpur assembly seat is the home constituency of Dhumal. In parliament, Hamirpur is represented by his son Anurag Thakur.

Both Dhumal and Thakur, who heads the BJP youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morch (BJYM) and is projected as a youth leader, are facing trials.

In one of the cases, Dhumal has been accused of favouring his son, who is president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), in allotment of land to the cricket body for constructing a plush residential complex for players near its stadium in Dharamsala during his regime as chief minister (2007-12).