State getting only its due, nothing extra, says Pathania

Congress chief whip in Himachal Assembly and party MLA from Shahpur Kewal Singh Pathania, said today that the Union government has not given any extra grant to Himachal in the last two years beyond what was state’s due in taxes.

While addressing a press conference here, he said that senior BJP have been claiming that the Himachal government cannot function without the support from the Union government and there was financial crisis in the state.

However, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has proved that the state can’t only function but thrive without the support from the Union government. Whatever the state was getting from the Union government was its constitutional right and no special privilege has been given to Himachal.

Kewal Pathania said that the Chief Minister Sukhu had adopted financial prudence to improve financial condition of state. In the last two years the state has generated extra revenue of Rs 2,200 crores by reversing decisions and policies of the previous BJP government. Out of it, over Rs 600 crores have been saved by auctioning liquor vends in the state. The Chief Minister has transferred the extra revenue generated in the state to government employees, he said.

He said that Chief Minister has announced to release 4 per cent DA and clear all pending medical bills of employees and pensioners. The medical bills of employees and pensioners had not been paid for the last five years which means they have been due since the stint of the previous BJP government.

Besides, the Chief Minister has released Rs 50 crore to the Himachal Pradesh Road Transportation Corporation (HPRTC) to clear the arrears of employees and pensioners.

Pathania said the Chief Minister has reversed many decisions of the previous BJP government that were causing financial loss to the state. Some of them included giving free land and electricity at a very low rates to industrialists who were planning to invest in various industrial areas of the state. The projects would have caused losses to the state exchequer.

Pathania said it was the duty of four BJP MPs from the state to lobby for projects in the state with the Union government. The Congress government in the state was fulfilling its duty by generating its own resources but the BJP MPs from the state should do their duty and bring in development projects from the Union Government.