Minister pacifies protesting Solan villagers

Solan, November 7

Minister for Urban Development, Housing, Town and Country Planning and Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Bhardwaj on Saturday assured villagers, who have been resenting the merger of rural areas with the Solan Municipal Corporation, that their grievances would be suitably addressed.

Bhardwaj, who was in Solan today, said only those rural areas where land had been sold had been merged with the corporation. He said no panchayat had been merged with the corporation and just sold plots had been merged. He said an effort had been made to settle objections to a large extent.

Bhardwaj later allotted newly constructed one-room houses to 23 beneficiaries under the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme at Chambaghat here.

He said the Union and state governments were making efforts to provide houses to all by 2022. He said 96 houses were being constructed at a cost of Rs 9.63 crore under this scheme and said the remaining would be allotted soon. — TNS