Himachal Pradesh govt delivered on its promises: Governor

Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat today said that the Congress-ruled state government has fulfilled the promises it made in its election manifesto and ensured balanced development of all areas.
In his address to the Legislative Assembly on the opening day of the budget session, Devvrat said the state government's achievements in education, health and other sectors were spectacular.
"Number of educational institutions providing quality education saw a quantum jump, Himachal Pradesh University accredited with A grade bythe National Assessment and Accreditation Council, and 14 Government Colleges were accredited with the Council during 2016-17," he added.
A total Rs 40 crore is being spent on the construction of new college buildings and Rs 39.19 crore on high school buildings, while Rs 82.40 crore have been disbursed amongst 1,41,724 eligible students under various scholarship schemes, the governor said.

"The Government is spending Rs 9.69 crore to provide free text books to SC/ST/OBC/IRDP students ofclass 9th and 10th, benefiting 1,04,221 students and Rs 11.73 crore have been spent for providing uniforms to the students of class 11th and 12th," Devvrat said.
He said that as many as 10,000 laptops were distributed to the meritorious students of 10th standard, while smart classrooms with multimedia reading aids and latest information technology tools have been set up in the 2,142 government schools of the state.

In order to strengthen the health services in the state, 155 doctors including 16 specialists, 426 staff nurses, 40 operation theatre assistant (OTAs) were recruited in 2016-17, he said.

Devvrat said Rs 115 crore have been released for the new medical colleges coming up in Nahan, Hamirpur and Chamba.
The state government has fixed a goal for "Swachh Himachal" (clean Himachal) by March 2017 with a budget of Rs 54.61 crore. The state was declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) on October 28, 2016, he said.
In its crackdown on drug trafficking, the government set up Narcotics Crime Control field units at Kullu, Shimla and Kangra and the police seized 377.5 kg of Charas, 27kg of Opium and 607.6 kg ofpoppy husk in 2016, he added.
To ensure women safety, 68,317 school girls were trained in un-armed combat under the 'Samarth' by the police.

The Anti Corruption Bureau has computerised all its 12 police stations under the Crime Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) and during 2016, 35 cases were registered against corrupt government officials, the governor said.
The Smart City Mission (SCM) project with a cost of Rs 2,109.69 crore has been launched for Dharmshala and the first instalment of Rs 186 crore has already been released, he said.