Govt biased against lower areas: Cong

Our Correspondent

NURPUR, SEPTEMBER 10

The HPCC has accused the Jai Ram government of creating regional imbalance in development projects.

Ajay Mahajan, state general secretary of the HPCC and former Nurpur MLA, in a press conference said here today that Rs 1,220-crore World Bank-funded Horticulture Development Project, meant for 12 districts of the state, was the tip of the iceberg. Kangra, Hamirpur, Bilaspur and Una districts were ignored.

He said the project was approved in 2014 and the agreement signed in October 2016 during the stint of the previous Virbhadra government, but the BJP government had discriminated against Kangra district and lower areas.

Criticising the state government for shifting office of the Engineer-in-Chief from Fatehpur (Kangra) to Mandi, Mahajan said the office had opened during the previous Congress regime for accelerating the ongoing work on Shah Nehar, Sidhatha and Phina Singh irrigation projects in Kangra areas.

“A Rs 800-crore project, under BRICS funding, was sanctioned during the Congress regime for IPH schemes, but this government is spending 80 per cent of the funds only in two Assembly constituencies in Mandi district alone, whereas 20 per cent budget is being spent in rest of the state,” he alleged.

He lambasted the state government for its failure to take up the issue of starting work on a number of new national highways and Pathankot-Mandi fourlane projects which had been announced by the Modi government with fanfare.

Mahajan alleged that the government had not only closed working office of the World Bank-funded Mid-Himalyan Development Project (phase-3) from Nurpur, but also shifted its regional office from Dharamsala to Solan despite public announcement of the Chief Minister at Nagrota Bagwan for shifting head office of the project from Solan to Dharamsala.