Need to create more Municipal Corporations: Virbhadra

Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today stressed the need to create more Municipal Corporations in big towns of the state to ensure organised and planned development with public participation.
He said Municipal Corporations assist in paving the way for development in a planned and phased manner. I want equal development of all areas of the state, as Himachal Pradesh to me is one and nobody could divide it on the basis of region and religion.
"The people of Dharamsala town not only agreed to his proposal of opening Municipal Corporation but also gave their mandate to the Congress party, who won 14 out of 17 candidates in the recently held Municipal Corporation polls," Singh said while addressing a civic reception organised by the newly elected members of Municipal Corporation at Dari here.

"We are all citizens of a secular state and should promote love and fraternity and stand united to ensure development. People who play divisive politics in the name of religion are enemies of the nation," he said.
"The ideology to transform the nation on the basis of one single religion was wrong on part of the BJP and we need to keep the sanctity of Tricolour, our Nation, for which we need to stay united and respect all religions alike," Singh said.
Elections should be held on the basis of policies, programmes and ideology and not on the basis of caste, colour, religion and region, he said.

Earlier, Himachal Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma said that Dharamsala is coming up as a model township and a smart city and efforts are on for the development of roads and illuminating the entire town with solar lights.