Clear stand on CUHP campus, BJP asks Himachal CM ahead of his Kangra visit

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, April 16

A day ahead of the scheduled visit of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to Kangra, the BJP has alleged that he has been discriminating against the Dharamsala Assembly constituency and Kangra district.

Bias against Dharamsala alleged

• Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has been discriminating against the Dharamsala Assembly segment, alleges state BJP spokesperson Sanjay Sharma
• He asks the Chief Minister to clarify his stance on the north campus of the CUHP at Jadrangal in Dharamsala

State BJP spokesperson Sanjay Sharma, in a press note issued here today, said that the Chief Minister should first clarify his stance on the north campus of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) at Jadrangal in Dharamsala. He added that BJP leaders from Kangra and the Union Ministry of Human Resources had urged Sukhu to release Rs 30 crore for transfer of forestland in the Jadrangal area of the Dharamsala constituency to the CUHP, the Chief Minister had not taken any action.

“The Congress had come to power in the state by winning 10 seats in Kangra district. While campaigning, most Congress leaders raised the issue of the CUHP. Now that the Union Government has given all permissions and released Rs 250 crore for the construction of the north campus of the CUHP in Jadrangal, the work is not being started as the Chief Minister is deliberately not releasing Rs 30 crore that the state has to deposit for the transfer of 55 hectares forestland for the CUHP,” Sanjay said.

He added, “Before seeking votes from the electorate of Dharamsala and Kangra, the Chief Minister should clarify why he has not released the amount for the Jadrangal campus of the CUHP.”

The BJP spokesperson said, “Sukhvinder Sukhu has become the first Chief Minister to end the winter sojourn to Kangra. Every winter the Chief Minister used to come with his office to lower areas of state and stay at Dharamsala for a fortnight or a month. This, besides providing symbolic importance to states lower regions, used to provide opportunity to the people of region to have direct access to the government. However, the present Chief Minister ended the winter sojourn in Kangra. This illustrates his bias against Kangra district.”

He alleged that Kangra got the lowest-ever representation in the Cabinet since the formation of the state. Despite giving 10 MLAs in the present government Kangra district got just one Cabinet berth. It was only after rebellion started brewing among the MLAs that another minister from Kangra took oath. The second minister was initially given the portfolio of sports which once again illustrated the Chief Minister’s bias against the region, he said.

Sanjay alleged that the Smart City project of Dharamsala was progressing at snail’s pace since the present congress government took over. Many government offices were shifted from the region and hundreds of developmental projects given by previous BJP government to the region were de-notified.

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