68th Independence Day function was celebrated with enthusiasm and gaiety throughout Himachal Pradesh today. Functions were organised at State, District and Sub-Divisional levels to mark the occasion. Impressive march-past by contingents of Police, Home Guards, NCC, ITBP and cultural programmes were main attractions of the celebrations. People in large number in their traditional attire had started to assemble the venue of functions early morning to witness the celebration.
At Nahan
He said that the people of the State played a pivotal role in the struggle for Independence. The Dhami firing incident, Pajhota agitation, Suket Satyagraha and Prajamandal Andolan had been the witness of the sacrifices made by the people of Himachal Pradesh in the struggle for independence. Many youth of the State were part of the ‘Azad Hind Fauj’ and actively participated in the struggle for freedom, he added.
Remembering the first Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, late Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar, Sh Virbhadra Singh said that Dr. Parmar played a significant role in the formation of Himachal Pradesh and initiated all possible measures for uniform development of the State and make it self sufficient.
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM) would be set up at Dhaulakuan in Nahan constituency of district Sirmaur.
- Government Engineering College at Kotla near Jeuri in district Shimla.
- He also announced 10 percent DA to the employees and the Pensioners with effect from January 2014 .
He said that our Government had all respect and honour for the martyrs and their families and was committed for the welfare of the serving and ex-servicemen of the State. The Chief Minister said that the ‘Samman Rashi’ of the freedom fighters had been enhanced from Rs 7,500 to Rs 10000, besides enhancing the same for the wives and daughters of freedom fighters from Rs 3,500 to Rs 5000. He said that the Government had enhanced the annuity of gallantry awards winners from rupees three thousand to rupees five thousand.
He said that the State had made a rapid progress since Independence and the present Government from more than last one and a half years had achieved many milestones in the field of development under the guidance of Smt Sonia Gandhi and Sh Rahul Gandhi.
To ensure welfare of all the sections of the society, our Government has taken many steps in this direction. Social welfare has been the top priority of the Government and the Social Security Pension of Widows, old aged and physically disabled has been enhanced from Rs 450 to Rs 550 per month, besides providing Social Security Pension of Rs 1000 to those above 80 years of age.
Fulfilling the promises made in the election manifesto, an ambitious Rs 500 crore ‘Skill Development Allowance Scheme’ had been started in the State wherein an allowance of rupees one thousand for skill development was being provided to educated unemployed, besides a sum of rupees 1500 per month was being given to the physically disabled and a separate provision had been made to relax the educational qualifications for different trades under the scheme.
To ensure food for all, the Government had launched an ambitious ‘Rajeev Gandhi Ann Yojana’ under which as many as 37 lakh people of the State were being provided ration at subsidized rates, said he. Besides, a sum of rupees 220 crore was being spent on providing essential edible items to the people of the State under the ‘Food Subsidy Scheme’.
The State had launched the ‘Rajeev Gandhi Digital Yojna’ under which the 7500 meritorious students of class 10th and 12th were being provided Net-books free of cost. Besides, the Government was providing Rs 75 thousand as one time incentive to those students of the State who are selected and admitted in degree courses in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and in post graduate/diploma courses in Indian Institute of Management (IIM).
Added priority was being given to strengthen the Educational Infrastructure in the State and in this direction, around 693 schools have been opened/upgraded besides opening of 14 degree colleges in the State so as to provide best educational facilities to the youth in far flung areas of the State and especially for the girl students at their very door steps. The girls had been excelling in all the fields as compared to boys and to facilitate them in obtaining higher and better education nearer to their home, the Government had opened many educational institutions in the far flung and remote areas of the State and was also ensuring the hostel facilities for the girl child in the recently opened colleges, said the Chief Minister.
He said that the Government was also giving added priority to the health sector, adding that opening of three new medical colleges at Nahan, Hamirpur and Chamba had been announced by the Government and the work on them would begin soon in near future. A provision of Rs 190 crore had been made for the medical college to be opened at Nahan and the land had also been selected for the same, he said. To ensure improvised medical services to the people, 638 posts of doctors and other paramedical staff had been filled besides the process was on to fill the remaining 719 posts. The Chief Minister said that New Campus of IGMC was coming up near Ghanahatti in Shimla with a cost of Rs 150 crore which will have 100 bed facilities for the patients besides having nursing and dental colleges. He said that a ‘Super Specialty Wing’ had been established at Tanda Medical College in district Kangra and efforts were afoot to make it a pioneer institution of the State.
The Government had decided to restore the Timber Distribution (TD) rights to the farmers and now the TD would be made available to the rightholders after 15 years for construction and after five years for repair of house instead of 30 and 15 years, respectively as was earlier, said Sh. Virbhadra Singh.
To ensure shelter to homeless, two biswas of land in urban areas and three biswas of land in rural areas was being provided to the eligible poor, free of cost to construct their own house, said the Chief Minister, adding that as many as 10,700 such homes were being constructed in this fiscal under both ‘Rajeev Gandhi and Indira Aawas Yojna’ and the financial assistance to construct houses under the scheme had been enhanced from Rs 48,500 to Rs 75,000.
Women empowerment had been on priority of the State Government. A ‘Women welfare Board’ has been set up in the State for rederessal of the problems of the women. Under ‘Mukhyamantri Kanyadaan Yojna’ the assistance has also been enhanced from Rs 21000 to Rs 25000. The financial assistance for inter-caste marriage has been enhanced from 25,000 to Rs 50,000, said the Chief Minister. He said that the stamp duty had been relaxed by two percent in case where the land/property is to be registered in the name of women.
“The focus of my Government is on developing the rural areas of the State so as to connect them with the main streamline and in this direction Rs 100 crore ‘Dr YS Parmar Kisaan Swarozgar Yojna’ had been launched in the State” said he, adding that around 4700 poly houses would be constructed in as many as 8.30 lakh square meters of land under the scheme. Apart from this under ‘Mukhya Mantri Krishi Adarsh Gaon Yojna’ a sum of Rs ten lakh each would be provided to one Gram Panchayat of each assembly constituency for developing agricultural infrastructure. He said that the Government had decided to introduce Standard Universal Carton for marketing of apples in the State to check their swindling by the middle man.
An Investment promotion Cell has been created in the industries department to invite more entrepreneurs in the State, he said adding that the State Government has fixed a target to harness 2000 MW additional power during the current financial year.
Chief Minister said that to ensure adequate employment to the youth of the State as many as 93 industrial units had been given clearance to set up their industries in the state which will provide employment to as many as 8500 youths and besides this Una, Kangra and Solan districts would be developed as new industrial townships. “We have ensured 70% employment to Himachali youth in all the industrial units in set up in the State” he asserted. He added that the daily wages of the labourers had been enhanced to Rs 170 and lot of welfare measures were being undertaken for welfare of the workers and labour class by Other Building Workers Welfare and Construction Board.
He said that State Government had regularized the services of contract workers who had completed six years of their service besides regularizing daily wagers completing seven years of service.
The Government was committed for development of the roads and development of existing road infrastructure. As many as 3027 panchayats out of 3243 have been connected with motorable roads and efforts were afoot to connect the remaining panchayats soon.
Roads were the lifeline of development and our Government was taking all possible measures to connect every census village with road connectivity besides maintaining and up-keeping the existing, said he, adding that under second phase of Rural Roads Projects, a sum of Rs 516 crore had been sanctioned for such projects to be undertaken in far flung areas of the State.
Referring to development works undertaken or earmarked for Sirmaur district, the Chief Minister said that the present Government aims at equitable development of all the areas of the State and the development of district Sirmaur had been on the top agenda of the Government and in this direction many effective steps had been taken. He said that three new Sub-Tehsils, viz, Haripurdhar, Pajhota and Narag had been sanctioned by the Government besides opening of SDM office at Shillai. He said that Shillai and Sangrah tehsils had been included in hard area sub cadre so that speedy development of the areas could be ensured. Besides, the government was committed to provide Tribal status to the Trans-Giri area of the district and will strongly pursue the matter with Government of India.
The Chief Minister said that as many as 105 schools had been opened/upgraded in the district besides opening a degree college at Sarahan for which a sum of Rs 12 crore had been sanctioned. He said that appropriate land had been identified for the college building at Nahan and the construction work of colleges at Sangrah, Haripurdhar and Rajgarh was in progress. He said that a college building was constructed at Shillai at a cost of Rs 14 crore.
Sh Virbhadra Singh said that Rs 5.40 crore new OPD block was constructed at Regional Hospital Nahan besides hospital buildings at Sarahan and Paonta were being constructed at a cost of Rs 6.30 crore and Rs 7.70 crore respectively.
He said that Rs 72.57 crore, Giri drinking water supply scheme had been sanctioned for Nahan to solve the drinking water problem of the town and the work on which would begin soon. Tenders worth Rs 11 crore had been invited for the boring of tube-wells and the pumping machinery for the same and on completion it would solve the water problem of the people of the town for the next 25 years.
Apart from this, a sum of Rs 29 crore was being spent on improving the electricity lines and rupees six crore had been sanctioned for Nahan for the same so that the people of the town could have uninterrupted power supply round the clock.
The Chief Minister said that under the Backward Area Grant Fund, a scheme worth Rs 80.60 crore had been implemented and a sum of Rs 17 crore was being spent in this fiscal.
He said that Skill Development Centre was set up in Nahan in the campus of ITI with an outlay of Rs 1.21 crore to facilitate the youth in skill development so that they could be trained in different trades.
The Chief Minister said that an amount of rupees six crore had been sanctioned for construction of indoor stadium at Nahan and a shooting range worth rupees 1.15 crore was being set up in the town.
The Chief Minister expressed satisfaction that out of 228 panchayats in district Sirmaur as many as 220 panchayats had been provided road connectivity. Besides a sum of rupees 33 crore had been sanctioned for Laldhang-Shillai-Rohru National Highway and to speed up the work on this project a PWD sub division had been opened at Kafota. Apart from this a sum of Rs 142 crore had been spent on metalling and widening of Nahan- Kumarhatti road. The Government would assist and rehabilitate those who had suffered losses due to heavy rains and would ensure that all the roads in the interior of the district as well as the State would be restored soon.
He appealed to the people to contribute in the development of the State so that Himachal Pradesh could emerge as a pioneer State amongst all the hill States in the Country, adding that the Government was committed for zero-tolerance towards corruption and the benefits of development should percolate to the last man in the que.
The Chief Minister announced to set up Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at Dhaulakuan in Nahan constituency of district Sirmaur and Government Engineering College at Kotla near Jeuri in district Shimla.
He also announced 10 percent DA to the employees and Pensioners with effect from January 2014 and would be added in Septembers pay. The arrears would be deposited in the GPF of the employees, said he.
The Chief Minister also distributed ‘Civil Service Award’ to State Election Commission for making innovation in preparing electoral roll by using the primary data of election commission of India. The award was received by Sh Anupam Kashyap Secretary, HP State Election Commission. The award comprised of Rs 2,50,000 in cash besides a citation.
He gave ‘Prerna Srot Award’ to Smt Anju Devi, for donating the dead body of her husband to PGI, Chandigarh where he breathed his last. She was awarded Rs 51,000 in cash besides a citation.
The Chief Minister awarded ‘Himachal Gaurav Puraskar’ to Sh. Om Prakash Sujanpuri in the field of art and promoting Kangra and Pahari School of paintings and gave him cash reward of Rs 21000 besides a citation.
He also honoured Sh. Vikas Thakur for winning silver medal in the recently held commonwealth games at Glasgow. He was given a cheque of Rs 10 lakh, besides a citation.
The award for taking up plantation drive was given to senior secondary school Nahan, Rajgarh and Nauradhar and to High school Danda Pagar.
For better services in the police department the award was given to Constable Navraj Sharma and head constable Kanwar Pal Singh of Police department.
The Cultural Programme awards were given to Jawahar Navodaya Vidalaya, Nahan, Senior Secondary School, Amboya and Senior Secondary School (Girls) Nahan.
Earlier, the Chief Minister also took salute at an impressive march past presented by the contingents of the Police, Homeguards, NCC cadets, Scouts and Guides and the school children.
A colourful cultural function was also organized by the students of different schools, troupes from different districts and the department of Information and Public Relations on the occasion.
Chief Parliamentary Secretaries, Sh Mansa Ram, Sh. Jagjeevan Pal and Sh. Vinay Kumar, Chairman, Employment Generation and Resource Mobilisation, Sh Harsh Vardhan, Vice-Chairman State Planning Board, Sh Gangu Ram Musafir, MLA ,Sh Karnesh Jung, Chairman, HIMFED, Sh. Ajay Bahadur, Chairperson, Women Social Welfare Board, Smt Satya Parmar, Ex MLA, Sh Kush Parmar, Chief Secretary, Sh P Mitra, DGP, Sh. Sanjay Kumar, ACS, Sh VC Pharka, Secretary GAD, Sh.Bharat Khera, Director, Information and Public Relations Shri Rakesh Sharma, Deputy Commissioner Sh, Vikas Labru, Superintendent of Police, Sh Balbir Thakur and other dignitaries of the town were present on the occasion.
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