Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said that there was a need to create more Municipal Corporations in big towns of the State for ensuring organised and planned development of these towns with public participation. Singh was addressing a civic reception ceremony organized by the newly elected members of Municipal Corporation at Dari in Dharamshala on satureday.Praising the public of the area CM said, “ the people of Dharamshala town not only agreed to his proposal of opening Municipal Corporation but also gave their mandate to the Congress party candidates in recently held MC polls, where 14 out of 17 candidates affiliated with the Congress Party swept these MC elections.” He said that Municipal Corporations assist in paving the way for development in a planned and phased manner. “Dharamshala is the second capital of the state and for-seeing this, the move to shift Board of School Education to Dharamshala was also taken by me, which was initially opposed by many people. I want equal development of all areas of the state, as Himachal Pradesh to him is one and nobody could divide it on the basis of region and religion.”
Virbhadra Singh said that we all were citizens of a secular state and should promote love and fraternity and stand united to ensure development. The people who play divisive politics in the name of religion were enemies of the Nation, he said, that he never wanted to criticize the BJP, but their ideology was not in the best interest of the Nation. Elections were held on the basis of policies, programmes and ideology and not on basis of caste, colour, religion and region, he remarked.“The ideology to transform the nation on the basis of one single religion was wrong on part of BJP and we need to keep the sanctity of Tricolour, our Nation for which we need to stay united and respect all religions alike,” he said.Chief Minister announced a sum of Rs. 50 lakh for construction of building of Government Middle School, Rakkar. He assured for adequate funding for solar lights to be installed in Dharamshala assembly constituency and for providing adequate funds for construction of Municipal Corporation office at Dharamshala.
Earlier, Sudhir Sharma ,the local MLA, who is also Urban Development Minister, said, “Dharamshala is coming up as a model township and a smart city and the efforts were on for development of internal roads and illuminating the town and nearby areas with solar lights.” The Minister thanked the Chief Minister for getting the grant of Rs 40 crore from Asian Development Bank for providing civic-amenities to the people of Dharamshala. The newly elected Mayor of MC Dharamshala, Ms. Rajni Vyas welcomed the Chief Minister and demanded adequate funding for construction of MC office. Speaker, Vidhan Sabha, Shri Brij Bihari Lal Butail, MPP and Power Minister, Shri Sujan Singh Pathania, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Shri Jagjeevan Pal, MLAs, Shri Sanjay Rattan, Shri Ajay Mahajan, Shri Yadvinder Goma, Shri Kishori Lal, Shri Pawan Kajal and Shri Manohar Dhiman, Chairman, Other Backward Classes, Shri Chander Kumar, Chairman, KCCB, Shri Jagdish Sapehiya, Chairman, HP Education Board, Shri Balbir Tegta, Vice-Chairman, State Forest Corporation, Shri Kewal Singh Pathania, Ex-MLAs, Shri Bodh Raj and Shri Surinder Kaku, Deputy Mayor, Shri Devendar Jaggi, newly elected councillors, Deputy Commissioner, Shri Ritesh Chauhan, SP, Shri Sanjeev Gandhi, Commissioner, MC, Dharamsala, Shri Vikas Labroo were also present on the occasion.