Returned Rs 25 cr to protect state’s interest: Ministers

Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan and Technical Education Minister Rajesh Dharmani have hit back at Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda for misleading the people on the issue of Himachal returning Rs 25 crore central assistance given for Medical Devices Park with false claims.

Refuting Nadda’s allegations regarding the Medical Device Park, the ministers clarified that the state government has not scrapped the Rs 350 crore project, instead it has decided to implement the project independently.

They said the union government had imposed several conditions for the proposed Rs 100 crore funding, which would have ultimately harmed the state’s interest. “It is in light of these facts that CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu chose to return the Central funding of Rs 25 crore,” they stated.

“Had the state accepted the central funding, it would have been compelled to provide land to industrialists at a token rate of Re 1 per sq m. This would have meant handing over 300 acres of prime land, worth approximately Rs 500 crore, for just Rs 12 lakh,” they explained. They said this proposition was not in the interest of the state, hence the reason for returning the central funding.

They said the project’s terms required the state to provide electricity to industrialists at Rs 3 per unit, despite purchasing it from the market at Rs 7 per unit. “The conditions also mandated the provision of free water, maintenance, and warehousing for 10 years, all of which would cost the state crores of rupees,” they said. They added that the state would not have earned any GST revenue from the project.