Chamba-Chowari tunnel to improve connectivity: Speaker
Chamba, April 6
Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania said on Saturday that the government had proposed a tunnel project to improve the connectivity between Chowari town and district headquarters Chamba.
A feasibility report for the project, expected to cost Rs 1,500 crore, was being prepared for the 7-km tunnel for which Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had approved an amount of Rs 4 crore, said the Speaker at a Congress party workers’ meeting held at the Ambedkar Bhavan in Chowari.
The primary objective of the meeting was to bolster the Congress party’s position at the booth level. In his address, Pathania targeted both the BJP-led previous state government and the Central Government, stating that although there was a ‘double-engine’ government in the past, development work in the country and Himachal Pradesh had come to a halt.
Hitting at the Opposition, Pathania said tremendous devastation was caused during the monsoon last year in the state, but the BJP leaders and Kangra MP Kishan Kapoor were nowhere to be seen during those testing time.
He also accused the previous BJP government of stalling major projects in the state. Citing the example of Finna Singh Irrigation project, the Speaker said the canal was proposed to be built for Rs 240 crore, but due to the negligence of then BJP government, the cost has now gone up to Rs 640 crore.
Talking about the six Congress MLAs who cross-voted during the RS election and later joined the BJP, he said, “The legislators were expelled within the confines of the law, an act that was upheld by the Supreme Court.”
He urged the party workers to unite and ensure the victory of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha elections. Senior vice president of the District Congress Committee, Krishna Chand Chela, Deputy Chairman of the municipal council Surender Singh Chadak, president of the Cooperative Society Rajkumar Chambial, District Secretary Rajiv Kaushal, Youth Congress president Sandeep Jasrotia, Treasurer Mayank Mahajan and Sevadal president Vinod Kumar were present on the occasion.
