Virbhadra Singh Chief Minister Himachal Pradesh requested for ensuring adequate funding for centrally sponsored schemes so that they could be completed in time. He said that allocations under some centrally sponsored schemes like Flood Management Programme, Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (now part of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna) and National Rural Drinking Water Programme have been drastically reduced resulting in difficulty in completing ongoing schemes under these programmes. He was speaking in the 3rd meeting of Governing Council of NITI AAYOG at Rastrapati Bhawan in New Delhi today.He said that reimbursement claims of Rs 105 crore under Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme and Rs 125 crore under Flood Management Programme were pending with the Central Government and added that the State has received Rs 148 crore less in comparison to funds received in 2013-14 under National Rural Drinking Water Programme during last three years. He said that releases under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna for Himachal Pradesh have come down to Rs 52.76 crore in 2016-17 as compared to Rs 77.40 crore in 2013-14.Chief Minister also requested for enhancing allocation under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna keeping in view high investment requirements in agriculture sector in hill states.
Virbhadra Singh said that Bachelor of Vocational Education course is being started in 12 Government colleges for 1000 students from 2017-18 besides Add-on Skill Development Courses for under graduate courses. He said that HP Kaushal Vikas Nigam has started a pilot project for 1080 trainees in eight sectors for skill training in order to meet the standards of National Skill Qualification Framework. He said that State Government has started a programme to provide skill development allowance to trainees according to certain eligibility criteria under various skill development programmes. 1,60,000 youth have been so far benefitted under the scheme, he added.He said that the State has achieved 100% open defecation free status (rural ) in 2016 and added that a scheme to reward Government primary and middle schools has been launched to promote hygiene and cleanliness in schools.
Chief Minister said that the State Government was preparing a 15 year vision, 7 year strategy and 3 year action plan for inclusive and sustainable development of its economy. 17 sustainable development goals to be achieved with the help of 69 monitorable targets have been taken as the guiding principles, he added. Sh Singh said that the State has achieved hundred percent Aadhar enrollment and also is the first state in the country to start aadhar based direct benefit transfer to MANREGA workers in October 2014. HP is also the first state to digitize all pariwar registers providing online information of all the households in the state, he added. He said that the state is making best efforts to use IT tools for SMART governance.Chief Minister said that steps were being taken to pass the HPGST law and added that GST workshops and seminars were being conducted and help desk is being established which will play an essential role in addressing problems of dealers.