BJP govt left Rs 75K-cr debt: CM

Mandi, January 14

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today said that during the previous BJP regime, paper leak scams were rampant in Himachal.

Sukhu, on the occasion of Makar Sankranti at Tattapani in the district, said, “The Congress government, soon after coming to power, exposed a paper leak scam going on in the Staff Selection Commission, Hamirpur, for quite some time and the main accused was arrested. The government immediately suspended the functioning of the commission.”

He assured the youth of the state that the government would ensure transparent and fair employment opportunities to them. He said, “The previous BJP government has left the state in a heavy debt trap of over Rs 75,000 crore due to financial mismanagement and wasteful expenditure. The state has inherited financial liabilities of Rs 4,430 crore as salary arrears of its employees and Rs 5,226 crore payable to pensioners as arrears. Our government also has liabilities of around Rs 1,000 crore of dearness allowance payable to the employees and the pensioners. The previous BJP government has left a total financial burden of about Rs 11,000 crore.”

Sukhu said, “A Cabinet sub-committee has been constituted for finalising the road map for the implementation of the promise of creating one lakh job opportunities made by the Congress in its election manifesto. The government will purchase 10 litres of cow milk at the rate of Rs 80 per litre and 10 litres of buffalo milk at the rate of Rs 100 per litre. This will provide gainful employment to the youth and motivate them to adopt dairy farming at a large scale.”

He said that at its first Cabinet meeting, the government had announced the implementation of the old pension scheme, which would benefit over 1.36 lakh employees covered under the new pension scheme in the state.

Sukhu said, “The state government is committed to ensuring the welfare of needy children, especially orphans, destitute women and senior citizens. The government has decided to set up a Chief Minister’s Sukhashray Sahayta Kosh with an outlay of Rs 101 crore so that higher education opportunities could be provided to needy children and destitute women. The government will bear the expenses of skill development, higher education and vocational training of such children. I have contributed my one month’s salary towards the fund and other Congress MLAs have also agreed to do so.”

He said that he had an old association with Tattapani and recalled his one visit here during his schooldays. Meanwhile, devotees took a holy dip on the ghats of Tattapani on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.