Sukhu goes all in to woo people in Virbhadra Singh’s bastion

In his maiden visit to Rohru constituency after vising office, chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday went all in to woo the public in Virbhadra Singh’s stronghold. Pratibha Singh, state Congress chief and Virbhadra’s wife, was a notable absentee.

Rohru has remained a Congress fortress, except in 1977 and 1982, when Janta Party candidates won the seat. While Padam Dev was the first Congress MLA from Rohru, Virbhadra Singh represented the seat for five consecutive terms, from 1990 till 2007.

BJP won the seat for the first time in 2009, when Khushi Ram Balnatah won the by-elections. The CM was accorded a warm welcome by the residents.

Kotkhai-Hatkoti tunnel, Adarsh Health Centre in Rohru

While addressing a gathering at Circuit House, Rohru, the CM said that surveys will be conducted for construction of Kotkhai-Hatkoti tunnel, underneath Kharapatthar and Dodra-Kwar tunnels.

He said that efforts will also be made to connect Kwar with Uttarakhand and announced an adarsh health institute to be built in the constituency.

Sukhu reiterated that the exploitation of apple growers by middlemen will not be tolerated and a provision of ₹100 crore has been made for setting up 10 cold atmosphere stores in the state. He added that measures are being taken to ensure remunerative prices for rotten apples to the growers.

The CM said that the government has fulfilled its election promise of providing the old pension scheme (OPS) to government employees and efforts were being made to get back approximately ₹9,000 crore of National Pension Scheme (NPS). He also demanded a 30% share from the Union government in hydro-power projects in the state.

The chief minister said that the state government has launched Sukh-Ashray Yojana for 6,000 orphan children and will provide all support to them until they reach the age of 27. The government will cover expenses of their higher education and provide pocket money of ₹4,000 per month.

He said that Himachal is the first state in the country to grant legal rights to orphans and has adopted them as the “Children of the state”.

Sukhu added that widows and single women will get financial assistance of ₹1.5 lakh to construct houses.

The CM added that education loan will be made available to meritorious students of economically weaker sections at 1% interest rate.

Sukhu emphasised on the need of co-ordinated efforts to make Himachal a clean and green state, Setting a target of March 2026, he said that 50% subsidy will be provided by the government to the youth for the purchase of e-buses, e-trucks, and e-taxis.