Himachal ministers hit out at Dhumal's anti-govt remarks

Himachal cabinet ministers today reacted sharply to former Chief Minister P K Dhumal's remarks describing the 3-year Congress rule in the state as "dismal" and asked him to verify the facts before making "false and baseless" allegations.
In a joint statement issued here, eight cabinet ministers including Vidya Stokes, Kaul Singh Thakur, G S Bali, Sujan Singh Pathania,Mukesh Agnihotri, Sudhir Sharma, Prakash Chaudhary and Col Dhani Ram Shandil said that the performance of the state government had been spectacular and claimed that it would last its full term.
Terming the statement of Dhumal as "motivated, fabricated and far from truth", the ministers said that the government under the leadership of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had ensured balanced and uniform growth of entire state and there was no section of the society which has not been benefited.

"It is a momentous occasion on completion of three years and the government could not celebrate it as the code of conduct is in force due to Panchayat and urban local bodies polls but it would be celebrated in a befitting manner after the polls," the statement read.
The ministers said that Himachal was amongst the first few states in the country to provide food security to the people by implementing Rajiv Gandhi Ann Yojana.
About 37 lakh people are being provided three kg of wheat at Rs 2 per kg and two kg of rice at Rs 3 per kg per month, they added.

They reminded Dhumal that it was the Congress Government which had started the scheme to provide 3 dals, 2 edible oils and iodized salt at subsidized rates to all the ration card holders to minimize the impact of price rise during its previous tenure.

They said that an amount of Rs 457 crore was spent on these schemes during the last two years and Rs 210 crore had been earmarked for the current financial year.
Two dozen colleges and 920 educational institutions have been opened or upgraded , an IIT has been established in Una district at a cost of Rs 122 crore and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) had been opened in Sirmour district.

The ministers said that three new medical colleges were being opened at Nahan, Chamba and Hamirpur with a provision of Rs 570 crore for each, besides an AIIMS was being established in Bilaspur district.
"The social security pension has been enhanced from Rs 450 to Rs 600 per month , subsidy under Indira Awas Yojana and Rajiv Awas Yojana has been enhanced from Rs 48,500 to Rs 75,000, as many as 197 projects worth Rs 11,000 crore have been sanctioned through Single Window Clearance.
"Monitoring Authority is also providing employment to over 21,000 people and a state of the art Industrial area was coming up at Pandoga in Una district at an estimated cost of Rs 122 crore. Another industrial area was being developed at Kandrori in Kangra district at a cost of Rs 107 crore," it added.