Paonta MLA wants to augment power facility in his constituency

Ambika Sharma

Hailing from an agrarian background, Paonta Sahib MLA Sukh Ram Chaudhary envisions to extend 100 per cent irrigation facilities to his area, which comprises a large chunk of the agrarian community.

While the state barely had 20 per cent land under assured irrigation, Chaudhary is keen on providing this facility to the entire tillable area in his constituency. This will help enhance farm income, as agriculture and its allied activities contribute as much as 10 per cent to the Gross State Domestic Product.

The 54-year old three-term BJP MLA began his political innings in 1998 and his career has seen a chequered growth.  He lost his first election, but went on to win two successive polls and established himself as a strong representative of the dominant Bhatti community of his area. He again lost the 2012 poll, but made a comeback in 2017.

He is married to Shashi Bala, who is a trained graduate teacher serving the state government. He is an intermediate with an ITI diploma in the electrical stream and has also worked with the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board as a Junior Engineer from 1994 to 1998 before he took a plunge into the electoral politics. 

"My trade union background and zeal towards social work drew me towards politics. The area was plagued by several problems like lack of proper roads and power and few irrigation facilities among others, which had failed to be addressed effectively over the years," he said.

Chaudhary has three daughters and ensured that they get best professional education. His eldest daughter Gitanjali is working as an engineer in Mangalore, while his second daughter Anuradha is pursuing MBBS at Tanda Medical College. His youngest daughter Navneet is studying law in Pune.

Rustic to the core, Chaudhary has a liking for simple food with bitter gourd, ladyfinger and bottle gourd being his favourite dishes. An early riser, Chaudhary wakes up around 6 am and invests at least an hour in exercise before catching up with the routine political activities of the day. 

With a penchant for rural sports like kabaddi, kho kho as well as hockey and cricket, Chaudhary also remained a Chief Parliamentary Secretary in his previous term, where agriculture and animal husbandry departments were among his responsibilities.

Keen to augment power infrastructure of his constituency, Sukh Ram has got an electrical sub-division opened at Sataun and wishes to open four new sub-stations of 33 kv opened in his area. He is also optimistic about providing concrete houses to all during his present tenure.

Know your MLA 

Sukh Ram Chaudhary (54)
Party: BJP

Qualification: An intermediate with an ITI diploma in electrical stream. Has also worked with State Electricity Board as a JE from 1994 to 1998

Constituency: Paonta Sahib 

Political background: The three-term BJP MLA began his political innings in 1998 and his career has seen a chequered growth. He lost his first election, but went on to win two successive polls and established himself as a strong representative of the dominant Bhatti community of his area. He again lost the 2012 poll, but made a comeback in 2017

Focus

• To augment power infra in his constituency
• To open four new sub-stations of 33 kv in his area
• To provide concrete houses to all