Shimla: Emphasizing that the BJP government in Himachal Pradesh decided to make development of the hilly state as one of its the main tasks right after assuming power three years ago, cabinet minister Suresh Bhardwaj has said Chief Minister Jairam Thakur is leaving no stone unturned to achieve the goals that it had set up for itself.
Interacting exclusively with ETV Bharat here, Himachal Pradesh Urban Development Minister Bhardwaj said that the government in its first-ever cabinet meeting, which was held right after ministers taking the oath of the office, decided that overall development of the state would be its main agenda.
Leaving politics of revenge behind, our government started working to develop the state, he said.
Suresh Bhardwaj with ETV Bharat "The BJP government led by Jairam Thakur reduced the age of pension beneficiaries from the existing 80 years to 70 years so that more people could be covered under the social security pension scheme of the state government," he said, adding that lakhs of people have been added to it just by reducing the age limit for the welfare scheme aimed to ensure good life to our senior citizens. Bhardwaj, who also worked as education minister in the same government, talked about various schemes of the department, saying 'Atal Adarsh Vidyalaya' is one of the biggest achievements of the state government. Bhardwaj said that after taking over as Urban Development Minister, he has been working to remove hurdles that were there or may come up in future in developing the cities. Talking about the NGT order, which permits only two and a half storey buildings in the state, the minister said it's causing problems and the government was thinking to challenge the order in the state High Court.On being asked how the various projects were affected by the on-going coronavirus pandemic, he said many smart city projects started late because of the world health crisis.Dharamshala was included in the list of the proposed smart cities of the state but Shimla could not make it to it. Shimla was added to it later but it took time to complete the formalities. He also said that the government would urge the union government if the 2022 deadline for the project could be extended in view of the prevailing situations.Bhardwaj said no government project or private business could not work without loan and the government had to obtain loans as it has limited economic resources.He also expressed hope that the BJP government would be formed once again in the state after the assembly elections due in the year of 2022. He said no state government could do it after 1990 but the present government would certainly make it again. Veerbhadra Singh has been a major leader but even he could not form the government twice in the state, he said, adding that the people would elect them back to power because of the work that the BJP government has done.
