Question hour: HP seeks fresh report on Naina Devi–Anandpur Sahib ropeway

Town and country planning minister Rajesh Dharmani said in the Vidhan Sabha on Thursday that the take-off points for the proposed ropeway connecting the revered Shri Naina Devi Ji with the Sikh town Anandpur Sahib will be situated in Himachal Pradesh.

Addressing concerns during the assembly’s question hour, Dharmani shed light on the challenges encountered by Punjab in facilitating the construction of the ropeway. He said the government was commissioning a fresh report from consultants to address these issues, after which work on the project will resume. He was replying to a question by Naina Devi MLA Randhir Sharma

Previously, reports had indicated that the take-off point for the ropeway was slated to be at Punjab’s Anandpur Sahib. However, due to formalities imposed by the Punjab government, the decision has been revised. This shift negates the need for navigating through additional formalities, enabling expedited progress on the project.

Responding to queries from Pachchad MLA Reena Kashyap, Dharmani said plans for another ropeway project from Habban to Churdhar have been submitted to the Centre for approval under the range project. The state government has already completed the construction of 21 ropeways across various regions.

Replying to a joint question by MLAs Chaitanya Sharma, Sudhir Sharma and Lokendra Kumar, chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said all the districts will be connected with heliports by year-end. He said the work has started at Rakkad, Palampur, Chamba, and Reckong Peo and ₹13 crore each haver been released for these heliports.

No new schemes for tourism development in past year: CM

The CM said that no new schemes for tourism development were started in the past year because the state government was continuing the Nai Manzilin-Nai Rahein scheme, which was started by the previous government. He said that the state government wants to first develop infrastructure in the tourism sector and has started efforts in this direction. He said that the government will take special care of the Shiv Dham project and work on it will be started again as soon as more funds are provisioned.

Sukhu added the government will start power production in the Uhal-3 power project this year.

Himcare has liabilities of over ₹254 crore: Health minister

Health minister Dhaniram Shandil said the liabilities under the Himcare scheme have reached ₹254.4 crore. He said that considering the importance of the scheme, the government will try to clear these liabilities in the next one or two months. He was answering a joint question of MLAs Janak Raj, Randhir Sharma, Deep Raj, Ashish Sharma and Rakesh Jamwal. Shandil said that the Himcare scheme is implemented at 283 health institutions in the state and out of these, liabilities of 249 health institutions are pending. These include 73 private health institutions. He said that liabilities worth ₹16.34 crore of various medical colleges are also pending under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. He added that 8.53 lakh families are covered by the Himcare scheme.