Mandi airport DPR being prepared: CM

Shimla, August 10

The government has neither acquired any land nor made a budgetary provision for the setting up of a greenfield airport in Mandi. A detailed project report (DPR) is still being prepared for the dream project of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.

The government gave this information in a written response to a question asked by CLP leader Mukesh Agnihotri on the status of the airport project at Balh. “Around 2,535 bighas are to be acquired but the DPR is still being prepared,” said Thakur.

Actual project cost can’t be assessed

Around 2,535 bighas are to be acquired but the project DPR is still being prepared. Since the DPR is still not ready, the actual cost of the airport project cannot be assessed right now. We are communicating with the Central Government for financial assistance for the project. —Jai Ram Thakur, Chief Minister

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“Since the DPR is still being prepared, the actual cost of the airport cannot be assessed right now. We are in communication with the Central Government for financial assistance for the project,” he said.

The Congress has been accusing the Chief Minister and the BJP of misleading people on the status of the airport when there has been no progress and no budgetary allocation for it.

Vinay Kumar, Rakesh Singha, Pawan Kajal and Sanjay Awasthy asked a joint question on the total number of persons who had been given jobs on compassionate grounds. The Chief Minister said 1,058 jobs (Class III 364 and Class IV 694) had been provided on campassionate grounds. He added that 2,556 applications for jobs on compassionate grounds were pending.

To Rohit Thakur’s question, Industry Minister Bikram Singh said the Central Government had not approved any ropeway for Himachal though seven proposals had been submitted for inclusion in the Parvatmala scheme.