Oppositon BJP stages walkout from Himachal Assembly

The Opposition BJP today accused the government of evading replies to key issues raised by them regarding Health and Education sector and staged two walkouts from the Himachal Pradesh Assembly today.
The BJP members raised the issue of location of central university in Kangra and outcome of inquiries against principals and also moved a cut motion on poor health services in the state which was defeated by a voice vote.
As soon as Health minister Kaul Singh Thakur asked the BJP members to withdraw their motion in view of his reply, BJP member Suresh Bhardwaj said that the minister had not addressed the issues raised by the opposition and staged a walkout.

The House gathered again following which a discussion was taken up on educational facilities in the state.
The Chief Minister, who also holds the education portfolio, in his reply said that the focus of the government was rationalisation and consolidation of educational institutions.
However, the BJP members expressed dissatisfaction over the reply and walked out of the house.

Earlier replying to a debate, the health minister warned the government doctors against indulging in private practice.
"The government would take strict action against the doctors who are doing private practice along with government job," he said.
Referring to the issue of the ESI Medical College at Ner Chowk in Mandi, Thakur said that the project was handled by the Union Labour ministry in previous UPA tenure and Rs 700 crore was spent on the construction of the complex.

However, the NDA government has now taken a different stand that to run a medical college was not Labour ministry's mandate and the state government should take it over, he said.
He said the Himachal government was ready to takeover the ESI Medical College if the Centre showed reluctance to take over the college as we don't want it to go to private sector.
The previous UPA government had sanctioned three medical colleges to the state in Chamba, Hamirpur, and Sirmour and sanctioned Rs 189 crore for each college.
"We would now ask Union Health Minister, JP Nadda, who is from Himachal, to provide us Rs 189 crore for the Ner Chowk college also," Thakur said.

He said the Medical Council of India had nothing to do with this decision and it could only inspect the facility later.
The health minister said the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) is being developed into a super specialty hospital.
"The previous UPA government had sanctioned Rs 150 crore for having a state of the art super specialty block at IGMC. Rs 120 crore would be spent by the Centre and Rs 20 crore by the state," he said.
Thakur said the health indicators of Himachal Pradesh were the best in the country, but the low child sex ratio in was a cause of concern.

He said the government was taking steps to improve the situation.
The health minister informed the House that 22 swine flu deaths were reported in Himachal Pradesh.