Only need-based institutions with budget, staff provision will be opened: Agnihotri

Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri today said that the state government would open only need-based institutions unlike the previous BJP regime which had distributed freebies and opened institutions only with the motive to return to power.

To a question asked by Naina Devi MLA Randhir Sharma, Agnihotri said that the previous BJP government had opened more than 1,000 government institutions without making a provision of staff or budget. “We are not opening institutions recklessly but thoughtfully. It is for this reason that only 35 institutions have been opened. We are undertaking rationalisation in departments like education, water resources and rural development to streamline their functioning,” he added.

Agnihotri said that need-based institutions on merit would be opened but the state’s resources would not be allowed to be wasted. “The BJP government had notified 1,000 institutions on political considerations but it had not bothered to pay the pending arrears of its employees,” he added.

Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur said that the Congress government had acted with vendetta while de-notifying 1,000 institutions that were opened on the demand of people.

“You took oath on December 11, 2022, and even before the Cabinet was formed, institutions opened by our government in one year were de-notified without following any parameters or rationale. The decision was motivated by political vendetta,” he added.

Thakur said that the Virbhadra Singh government had notified 22 new colleges without a budgetary provision just five days before the Assembly elections but we made all them functional.

Randhir Sharma sought the details of the institutions that the Congress government had opened along with a budgetary provision. Sundernagar MLA Rakesh Jamwal and Una MLA Satpal Singh Satti sought the details of the funds that the Congress government had made available for the institutions it had opened and how many of the de-notified institutions had been re-opened.

To Palampur MLA Ashish Butail’s question, Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi informed the House that in the past three years, 637 cases under Section 3(1) and 2,690 cases under Section 3(2) of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, had been approved.

He added, “The FRA Act, 2006, is a landmark legislation passed during the UPA regime. Its aim was to protect the rights of tribal people and those dependent on forests. The BJP government had approved only six cases under the FRA Act and now our government will implement it so that thousands of forest-dwellers get their benefit.”

In a written reply to Shahpur MLA Kewal Singh Pathania’s question, Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan said that a total of 342 out of 452 stone crushers were functional in the state. “A sum of Rs 127.67 crore was received as royalty from these stone crushers during 2024-25,” he added.