State BJP leaders trying to stall central aid, hurting development: Minister
Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Vikramaditya Singh today accused state BJP leaders of trying to stall Central grants, thus hurting development work in Himachal.
Vikramaditya, while addressing mediapersons here, said that the Central Government should rise above political considerations to help Himachal. “A lot of efforts have been made at various levels to stall special grants from the Centre for the state, which it had received in the past,” he added.
He said that the state government had tried to protect the interests of every section of society amidst challenges like financial constraints and natural disasters. “There can be differences in political ideology but the Central Government must extend all possible help to Himachal, which faces several financial constraints,” he added.
The minister said, “Himachal must be given a special financial package, over and above what is its state’s legitimate right. In the past two years, the Congress government has faced several challenges and the Central Government should extend all possible help to Himachal, which has very limited revenue generating resources.”
He added, “Unitedly we all are trying to develop the state, especially to create employment opportunities. In the government sector alone, 31,000 jobs have been given in the past two years and efforts are being made to create more avenues, both in the private and government sectors. The BJP in its five-year rule has provided only 20,000 jobs in the government sector.”
The minister countered the BJP’s claims on employment generation and dared the Opposition for an open debate on the issue. He said that it was due to malpractices in recruitment that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu was forced to abolish the HP Staff Selection Commission at Hamirpur.
He asked Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur to enlist the steps the previous BJP government headed by him had taken to strengthen the economy of the state. “All that you did was to squander and misuse the revenue deficit grant (RDG) of Rs 12,000 crore, which has now come down to mere Rs 6,200 crore and will be Rs 3,000 crore in 2025-26,” he claimed.
