96% HRTC routes making losses: Dy CM
Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri today told the House during the Question Hour that 96 per cent routes of the Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) were making losses.
Agnihotri, while responding to a question of Dharampur MLA Chander Shekhar, said that the HRTC had played a crucial role in providing transport facilities to the people of various regions of Himachal in the past 50 years and the Congress government was committed to continuing its services.
2,982 posts of teacher, ministerial staff vacant
- A total of 2,982 posts of teacher and ministerial staff are vacant in government schools in Himachal Pradesh, the Vidhan Sabha was informed on Friday
- The process to fill 700 posts of school lecturer and 985 posts of lecturer in computer science is underway
He said that the state government was contributing about Rs 60 crore to Rs 65 crore every year to pay salaries and pension to HRTC employees. Chander Shekhar said that there were 51 buses in the HRTC depot in the Dharampur Assembly constituency and 36 of them were condemned. Due to the poor condition of the buses, accidents were happening, posing a threat to the lives of passengers, he alleged.
Agnihotri said that the HRTC had started the process for procuring 701 new buses (327 electric, 250 diesel, 24 Volvo buses and 100 tempo travellers). As soon as the new buses arrive, some of them would be allotted to the Dharampur depot, he added.
To a question of BJP’s Nachan MLA Vinod Kumar, Minister for Panchayati Raj Anirudh Singh said that the Central Government had sanctioned 92,864 houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to Himachal Pradesh. Under the scheme, the Central Government was giving Rs 1.3 lakh while the state was providing Rs 20,000 as grant for the construction of houses to poor people.
MLAs Jeet Ram Katwal (Jhanduta), Pawan Kajal (Kangra) and Hans Raj (Churah) said that the claims of many people under the scheme had been cancelled, as they had already constructed houses. The claims of such persons should be transferred to other eligible persons in the state, they added. Anirudh Singh said that as per the guidelines of the Central Government, the claim of one person under the scheme could not be transferred to another.
To a question of Congress’ Indora MLA Malender Rajan, Agnihotri said that 1,714 soldiers had been recognised as martyrs or battle causalities in the state and 736 of them were from Kangra district, including nine from the Indora Assembly constituency. He added that the state government provided a grant of Rs 30 lakh and other facilities like free travel in HRTC buses to the families of the martyrs.
In response to a question of Karsog MLA Deep Raj, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu informed the House that during the tenure of the previous BJP government, 55 medical tests were performed free of cost in the IGMC, Shimla. The Congress government had increased the number of free tests to 133, he added.
Deep Raj said that in his constituency, all ultrasound machines were lying idle in the absence of a radiologist to operate them. The Chief Minister assured the House that the government would soon recruit doctors and radiographers to tackle the problem of shortage of staff in government hospitals.
Sullah MLA Vipin Parmar expressed dismay over the government not providing information regarding unsafe public buildings in the state.
2,982 posts of teacher, ministerial staff vacant
- A total of 2,982 posts of teacher and ministerial staff are vacant in government schools in Himachal Pradesh, the Vidhan Sabha was informed on Friday
- The process to fill 700 posts of school lecturer and 985 posts of lecturer in computer science is underway
