Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today laid the foundation stone of the new Municipal Corporation office building in Hamirpur, to be constructed at a cost of about Rs. 19.4 crore. He inaugurated newly constructed shops and a Rural Haat worth around Rs. 50 lakh for small traders and women’s self-help groups.
Later, addressing a public gathering at the Town Hall on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that the state government was considering to formulate a policy to provide relief to the poor and landless families who had been residing on government land for many years.
He said the government was studying the Supreme Court's guidelines on encroachment cases and would take an appropriate decision in the interest of such families. The Chief Minister said that healthcare and education sectors were the top priorities of the state government.
The government was installing advanced medical equipment in all government medical colleges and focusing on recruiting super-specialist doctors and professors so that people could access AIIMS- and PGI-level healthcare within the state. The government was spending Rs. 125 crore to modernize laboratories in these medical colleges.
Robotic surgery facilities would also be started, making this advanced treatment available to patients at a much lower cost. The number of postgraduate (PG) medical seats were also being increased to produce more specialist doctors. He recalled that during the UPA government, he secured approval for the Hamirpur Medical College from the then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The present state government had already released nearly Rs. 500 crore for the project and the college would soon begin functioning from its new campus at Jol Sappar. The Chief Minister assured that the Himcare health insurance scheme would not be discontinued.
However, the government would expose the irregularities and alleged scam that took place under the scheme. Speaking about education reforms, he said the establishment of CBSE-affiliated government schools had resulted in increase in the student enrolment in government schools by around 24,000.
He said that recruitment through the Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC) and the Himachal Pradesh Rajya Chayan Aayog had been made transparent to ensure fairness for deserving candidates. He said that the state government had strongly defended Himachal's interests in matters related to the Kishau Dam Project, other hydropower projects and the Wildflower Hall case, securing significant financial benefits and revenue for the state.
The Chief Minister said that residents of newly included areas under the Hamirpur Municipal Corporation would receive a five-year exemption from municipal taxes. He said that a new bus stand costing around Rs. 130 crore, the largest in Himachal Pradesh, was under construction in Hamirpur.
In addition, the existing bus stand site would be redeveloped into a modern City Centre by spending about Rs. 200 crore, offering shopping, entertainment, parking and other public facilities. The existing shopkeepers would be accommodated either in the new City Centre or at another suitable location.
Sh. Sukhu said that five state-level offices of various government departments, boards and corporations had been established in Hamirpur and several major development projects had been approved for the town. He also announced that a suitable venue would be developed for the Dussehra festival and other public events in the Hamirpur town, along with fulfilling other local demands.
He also assured that better facilities would be provided for street vendors in Hamirpur town. MLA Suresh Kumar, Political Advisor to the Chief Minister Sunil Sharma (Bittu), State Agricultural Marketing Board Chairman Kuldeep Singh Pathania, Kangra Cooperative Primary Agriculture and Rural Development Bank Chairman Ram Chander Pathania, State Drug De-addiction Board Coordinator and Advisor Naresh Thakur, OBC Finance and Development Corporation Vice Chairman Dr. Mohan Lal, OBC Commission Member Rajeev Rana, APMC Chairman Ajay Sharma, District Congress President Suman Bharti, senior Congress leaders Dr. Pushpender Verma and Subhash Dhatwalia, former MLA Manjit Dogra, DC Gandharva Rathore, SP Balveer Singh along with other senior officers and senior Congress leaders were present on the occasion.