Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on second day of his visit to Mandi district, laid foundation stones of Rs. 5.87 crore of Fire Station at Mandi, Rs. 2.25 crore lift water supply scheme Chhaneri, Nehra etc. in Gram Panchayat Palahota in Nachan assembly segment, Rs. 3.03 crore augmentation/extension of lift water supply scheme Kalouhad Dedru and Thara in Gram Panchayat Kalouhad.He also inaugurated Rs. 1.86 crore building of Vocational Training Improvement Project (VTIP) Block of Industrial Training Institute (ITI) Mandi besides Rs. 4.50 crore ITI in government sector for persons with disabilities at Sundernagar. While addressing gathering at Palahota, the Chief Minister announced upgradation of middle school, Palahota to high school and Sainji high school to senior secondary school. He also announced a sum of rupees two lakhs for leveling the school ground of middle school Palahota besides, Ayurvedic dispensary to be opened at Palahota.
He said that in order to ensure that the people of Himachal Pradesh continue to get potable drinking water and irrigation facilities at affordable cost, a sum of Rs 330 crore had been provided to Irrigation and Public Health department to meet energy charges of water supply and irrigation schemes.
He said that a total of 17 irrigation schemes worth Rs 22.29 crore were being implemented in Nachan assembly segment and the work on three irrigation schemes amounting to Rs 65.50 lakh were in progress. He detailed that since January 2013, the government had given sanction to four drinking water supply schemes and two irrigation schemes worth rupees 11.31 crore for Nachan assembly segment.During 2015-16, around 2000 hectares of land would be reclaimed under flood protection works and channelization of rivers, said the Chief Minister.He directed the IPH authorities to complete all the ongoing schemes in a time bound manner. He said that 34381 habitations had been provided drinking water facilities and the State government was committed to provide this facility to all the left- out hamlets of the State. He also released a book titled ‘Devswarag Lamdal’ written by Sharan Shashtri at Palahota.Later, the Chief Minister inaugurated Rs. 86.74 lakh Him Hatchery building at Sundernagar, office of district manager of HP State Co-operative Bank at Sundernagar, Rs. 58.17 lakh Agriculture Rest House and Rs. 3.56 crore boys hostel of Sundernagar Polytechnic. He laid also foundation stone of Police Station at Sundernagar to be constructed at a cost of Rs. 5.16 crore.
Virbhadra Singh also listened to the grievances of the people on the occasion and directed the concerned authorities to redress the grievances of the people of priority.Chairman, H.P. State Cooperative Bank Shri Harsh Mahajan presented a cheque of Rs 51 lakh to the Chief Minister for CM Relief Fund. The Chief Minister thanked the noble gesture and said that the Co-operative bank was the ‘Bank of the State-for the State’ and was fully dedicated in providing banking services to the farmers, horticulturalists, traders, employees and was also meeting the credit requirements of the socially backward classes of the society. He congratulated the people of the State for the Co-operative bank getting ‘schedule status’ from Reserve Bank of India.He expressed hope that the bank would further strengthen and expand its activities in near future particularly in far-flung and rural areas. He said that the bank has adopted latest technology which was necessary for serving the people in a better way.
Present on the occasion were Irrigation and Public Health Minister Smt. Vidya Stokes, Health Minister Shri Kaul Singh Thakur, Transport Minister Shri G. S Bali, MPP & Agriculture Minister Shri Sujan Singh Pathania, Panchayati Raj Minister Shri Anil Sharma, Excise and Taxation Minister Shri Prakash Chaudhary, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Shri Sohan Lal, State Youth Congress President Shri Vikramaditya Singh, Chairman, SC/ST Corporation Shri Tek Chand Dogra, OSD to Chief Minister Shri Amit Pal Singh, DGP Shri Sanjay Kumar, MD, HP State Co-operative Bank Shri Amitabh Awasthi, Deputy Commissioner Shri Sandeep Kadam, Superintendent of Police Shri Mohit Chawala amongst other prominent persons and senior officers of the district.