Thunag Horticulture College not be shifted or closed: Jagat Singh Negi

Shimla, August 30

Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi today said that the government had no intention to close or shift Horticulture College at Thunag in the Seraj Assembly segment of Mandi district to any other place. He was responding to a question asked by Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur during the Question Hour in the Vidhan Sabha. “A total of 205 bighas were selected for the college but now the government is trying to shift it to another location by transferring teachers and not awarding the contract for its construction,” said Thakur.

Negi said that only two blocks of the college could be constructed at the site selected by the previous BJP government and there was no space for hostels and other blocks. “When you were in power for five years why did you not act then. You constructed helipads and rest houses, which we could now use for running institutions. Neither do we intend to shift the college nor close it but it will be built wherever feasible,” he added.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu said Jai Ram should accompany him to New Delhi to seek funds from the Centre so that the work on the college could be expedited. “The land on which you set up Atal Medical University was not in the government’s name and we lost the case both in the Supreme Court and the HP High Court,” he added.

As Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania denied an opportunity to Thakur to ask a supplementary, the BJP members started raising slogans. Except Mandi legislator Anil Sharma, all BJP MLAs left the House in protest.