Virbhadra’s Statement False, Contrary To The Ground Realities, Malicious--Dhumal
5 Dariya News Service (Vijyender Sharma)
Shimla 29-Sep-2012
Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, has sharply reacted to the statement of Virbhadra Singh, former Union Minister, appearing in a section of press today regarding implementation of the Election Manifesto of BJP. He called the statement false, contrary to the ground realities, malicious and aimed at gaining political mileage. He said that the Election Manifesto of the Party had been adopted as Policy Document of the Government and every department directed to implement the same in letter and spirit. All the promises made in the Election Manifesto had been implemented within two years of the Government and promise to increase old age pension, daily wages and women welfare etc. were implemented within three days of the formation of the Government. A Cabinet Sub-Committee was constituted to regularly monitor the progress of implementation of the Election Manifesto.Chief Minister said that that BJP had promised the things which were implementable and refrained from imaginative promises as Virbhadra Singh had been making for attaining his narrow political gains. Virbhadra Singh should name any mega scheme implemented for the betterment of people of Himachal Pradesh during his Chief Ministership. Pandit Deen Dayal Kisaan Baagwan Samridhi Yojna, Doodh Ganga Yojna, Mukhya Mantri Arogya Pashudhan Yojna, Atal Bijli Bachat Yojna, Atal Swasthya SewaYojna, Bhed Palak Yojna, Mukhya Mantri Vidyarthi Swasthya Yojna, Apple Rejuvenation Yojna, Mata Shabri Mahila Sashaktikaran Yojna etc. were some of the major schemes launched during the period which acclaimed national applause and were beyond the scope of the Election Manifesto.Prof. Dhumal said that Manifesto included adopting a strategy for generating additional resource mobilization which had successfully been accomplished. He said that State got only Rs. 2,228.76 crore as Special Central Assistance during Congress regime from year 2003-04 to 2007-08 and Rs. 4,132 crore during BJP regime from 2008-09 to 2012-13. He reminded Virbhadra Singh that only Rs. 624.23 crore were spent during his tenure from 2003-04 to 2007-08 on maintenance of roads while the BJP Government had spent Rs. 1000.24 crore over the maintenance of roads during present term. He said that people of Himachal Pradesh wanted to know from Virbhadra Singh why had he not persuaded the Government of India to increase allocation for maintenance of National Highways when he was Union Minister? He said that the onus lies upon the Government of India for not allocating adequate funds for maintenance of National Highways since maintenance of National Highways was the responsibility of the Centre. Centre had allotted only Rs. 5.59 crore against the admissibility as per norms of Rs. 33.05 crore for maintenance of National Highway.Chief Minister said that Virbhaadra Singh was making futile attempts to mislead the people of the State by issuing false statements in the media just to cover his inefficiency as Chief Minister of the State and out of jealousy he had against the spectacular achievement BJP Government had made and won record 71 national and international level Awards for the State. He said that people of Himachal Pradesh were wise enough to evaluate compare achievements of BJP and Congress Governments and know well for themselves as to who their real benefactors were. He advised Virbhadra Singh to do introspection and refrain from making false and malicious statements just to gain political mileage where he is bound to fail.