Congress, BJP lock horns in Himachal Vidhan Sabha over ‘one lakh jobs’ guarantee

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, February 20

Heated exchanges were witnessed during a debate on the Budget proposals in the Vidhan Sabha today. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur locked horns over the Congress’ poll promise of creating ‘one lakh jobs’ every year.

Employment avenues promised: Sukhu

The Congress had promised to create one lakh employment avenues and not give one lakh jobs every year before the Assembly poll. — Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Chief Minister

7.1% growth rate misleading: Parmar

• The growth rate of 7.1 per cent along with a rise in the per capita income shown in the Budget proposals was misleading, said Sullah MLA Vipin Parmar
• Parmar said the health infrastructure was crumbling while the government was making big claims of starting robotic surgery

Sukhu and Thakur engaged in a verbal duel as Sundernagar MLA Rakesh Jamwal accused the Congress government of failing to provide one lakh jobs in one year as it had promised in the first Cabinet meeting itself.

The Chief Minister objected to the charge and said that the Congress had promised to create one lakh employment avenues and not give one lakh jobs. Thakur contested Sukhu’s argument and said that the Congress had promised to provide one lakh jobs in one year. As Thakur started reading the guarantee on his mobile phone, Sukhu said that one could not trust social media.

Sullah MLA Vipin Parmar criticised the government for not acknowledging the Rs 1,800 crore financial assistance extended by the Central Government to Himachal in the aftermath of unprecedented damage caused due to heavy rains last year. He said that the Central Government had also provided Rs 1,000 crore under MGNREGA to Himachal, which could not be denied.

Parmar said, “People are waiting to vote out the Congress from power. I don’t know whether this will happen after the election to the Rajya Sabha seat or after the Lok Sabha elections.” He accused the government of being unsympathetic towards the problems of people.

He said that the health infrastructure in the state was crumbling while the government was making big claims of starting robotic surgery. “First provide basic facilities and strengthen super specialty services in government medical colleges,” he added.

Parmar said that a growth rate of 7.1 per cent along with a rise in the per capita income shown in the Budget proposals was misleading.

Agriculture Minister Chander Kumar said that 80 per cent of the budgetary allocations had been made for strengthening the rural economy. He added that the Budget was growth-oriented and practical and in conformity with ground realities despite financial constraints. “A sincere attempt has been made to make subsistence farming more lucrative with better cash returns so that the farm sector gets a major fillip,” he claimed.

The minister said that people were abandoning agriculture as it was very labour intensive. So, there was an urgent need to provide incentives to strengthen the rural economy. “Organic manure will be procured at the rate of Rs 3 per kg in the PPP mode to ensure organic farming. We will lease government farms for organic farming,” he added.