Former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh and Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur has made a scathing attack on the government of Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, which claims to ‘change the system’. He has alleged that even after three years of the government, the announcements of the first budget have not materialized. Jai Ram Thakur has demanded that the Chief Minister should answer the public on the incomplete announcements of the last three years before presenting his fourth budget.
The Leader of Opposition said that just as Congress came to power by giving false guarantees, in the same way it is now making false announcements in the budget within the Assembly. While giving advice to the Chief Minister, he said that there is a difference between the speeches at the election rally and the announcements made inside the Assembly. It is the responsibility of the government to complete the schemes provided in the budget, but dozens of announcements of the current government are still gathering dust only on paper.
These major announcements are buried in papers
Referring to several incomplete schemes of the Sukhu government, Jairam Thakur said that there is no mention of the announcement of giving subsidy of ₹ 25,000 for electric scooters to 20,000 meritorious girl students. The government, which talked about building 6 green corridors, has instead imposed an ‘environment cess’ of ₹ 6 per unit on electric charging. The talk of opening ‘Adarsh Health Institute’ in every assembly proved to be a pipe dream. The announcement of installation of PET scan machines in Chamba, Nahan and Hamirpur has also been buried in the files. All the announcements related to employment of farmers, gardeners, sportspersons, women, tribal areas and youth are also limited to papers only.
Where did the budget of Rs 2.2 lakh crore and loan of Rs 45 thousand crore go?
The former Chief Minister raised serious questions on the financial management of the government. Presenting the figures, he said that the Sukhu government presented a budget of: Rs 63,712 crore in the first year, Rs 75,496 crore in the second year, Rs 58,343 crore in the third year.
A total budget of about Rs 2.2 lakh crore was presented in three years and in addition a loan of more than Rs 45,000 crore was also taken. Jairam Thakur asked that despite taking such a huge budget and loan, when the schemes were not started, then where did that money from the budget go? He said that this raises big questions on the intentions and functioning of the government.