Centre announces IIT, central varsity for HP

Himachal Pradesh will soon have a central university, an Indian Institute of Technolgy (IIT) and a broad gauge railway track, Union Finance minister P Chidambaram, who was here to launch the common man's insurance (aam aadmi bima yojana), announced .

The proposed central university and IIT would be funded fully by the Centre, the finance minister said.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said opening up of a central university and an IIT in the state would lift the educational standards in the hill state.

On the long-pending demand of the state from the railways for Bhanupalli-Bilaspur broad gauge line Chidambaram said, "The broad gauge railway track will be built in a time-bound fashion with the Centre pitching in 75 per cent of the cost."

Chidambram said he was making these announcements on behalf of the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

"The Prime Minister was scheduled to visit Himachal Pradesh but because of the recent surgery, he could not come and instead, sent me to convey his good wishes to the people of the state," he said.

The announcements come ahead of the assembly elections in the state due in February next year.

The Congress government in the state had been under attack from the opposition BJP for "failing" to get good financial assistance from the Centre and non-implementation of over Rs 4000-crore package announced by the Prime Minister during his visit to the state in 2005.

With today's announcement, NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) would be executed in all 12 districts of the state.

Chidambaram praised the Himachal government for good financial discipline and said the Centre would extend cooperation for the growth of the hill state.