Question hour: Centre provided 500 ventilators to Himachal, says CM

The Union government provided 500 ventilators to Himachal to tackle the pandemic, 322 of which were used in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and 178 in portable units, health minister Rajiv Saizal told the House on the fifth day of the Monsoon Session on Friday.

He was replying to a question jointly raised by Congress members Jagat Singh Negi and Nand Lal. The minister said 472 ventilators had been sent to different hospitals in the state, of which 310 were being put to use.

Saizal said 320 ventilators were purchased from Bharat Electronics for ₹4,48,000 each; two ventilators were purchased from Allied Medical Limited for ₹ 8,62,400 each and 178 ventilators were purchased from AgVa for ₹1,66, 376 each, taking the total cost to ₹17.46 crore.

In response to a question jointly asked by Ramesh Dhawala, Arun Kumar and Jiya Lal, Jal Shakti Minister Mahender Singh said as many as 7,061 houses had been damaged due to heavy snowfall in winters.

The affected families have been disbursed relief amounting to ₹10.68 crores for repairs. This amount will be increased in the future as per the regulations of the Indian government.

Responding to a question asked by MLA Asha Kumari, education minister Govind Thakur said the state government had decided to implement the National Education Policy in the state and a notification to this effect had already been issued. He said preference will be given to impart education in Hindi. The rule will also be applicable in private schools, the minister said.

Raising a supplementary question, leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri asked whether the state government was doing anything about the 2,630 school management committee (SMC) teachers.

To this the chief minister replied that state government had made efforts to provide all possible help to SMC teachers and the state government was considering approaching the Supreme Court over the matter.

OPPOSITION LEADER CONCERNED OVER SAFETY OF MLA

After the question hour, leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri raised the matter of Congress’ MLA from Kullu Sunder Thakur’s security. The MLA has alleged that he is being threatened by former Kullu MLA Maheshwar Singh.

Sunder said Maheshwar was acting as though he owned the Raghunath Temple and his supporters had staged a protest at the MLA’s house. He said the state government will be responsible if any harm was done to his family.

To this the CM said protests were being organised throughout the state as well as in Kullu against Maharashtra government in support of Kangana Ranaut and some protesters had gathered ear Raghunath Temple. In the meantime, Congress workers also reached there and started to raise slogans. FIRs were registered against both the parties, said CM said, assuring an impartial probe into the matter.