BJP left state finances in mess, coming up with open investor policy: Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu

A month after taking over, the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh decided to restore the old pension scheme (OPS) and will soon be coming with an open investor policy to boost state finances, which state chief minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu said was in “dire straits”. In an interview with Chetan Chauhan, Sukhu blamed the previous BJP government for the state’s financial mess, and said the government was working to implement the other nine guarantees promised by the Congress before elections. Edited excerpts:

Your cabinet has approved OPS. Will it not create financial burden for the state?In the first cabinet, we approved restoration of OPS as promised during elections. We have provided the budget for OPS. We did not take any political view and looked at the humanitarian aspect. These days many children don’t stay with their parents anymore and retired people need assured money from the government. With this view, we approved restoration of OPS. This is despite the fact that government owes ₹11,000 crore to the government employees including ₹5,500 crore to pensioners and ₹4,500 crore as arrears of sixth pay commission.

The Congress had promised a monthly payout of ₹1,500 for every woman of the state before elections. Will this promise be implemented?We have five-year mandate. We will start the scheme as early as possible. As of now, we are focusing on reforms and improving state finances. After December 11, when I became the chief minister, I went to an orphanage and learnt that these children don’t have any voice. I decided to start the scheme for 6,000 such children called “Sukh Ashray Sahitya Kosh”. The government will pay for all expenses including living and entire education till they turn 27. We also decided to pay ₹4,000 every month to orphan children above 18 years of age and have provided for ₹101 crore for the scheme. We are working to implement remaining nine guarantees.

What about Himachal’s financial condition?I have not inherited the state from the BJP in good financial condition. The state is in debt of ₹75,000 crore and revenue flow is poor. I have resolved to change the state’s financial position, which had deteriorated in the past 15 years, in the next four years. We are coming up with several policies to attract investment and improve state finances.

The Congress was also in power in last 15 years. Your party has also contributed to this.Of these 15 years, the BJP was in power for 10 years, and in last five years, the situation went from bad to worse. There was no governance in the BJP regime and government dues were not recovered from influential people. We have started the process to recover that money. We had to increase duty on diesel to improve the state’s financial condition. We also decided to end VIP culture by ensuring that everyone will have to pay same room rent for staying in government accommodation. We are also reducing government wasteful expenditure…yes we were in power in between for five years.

What exactly are you doing to improve the state’s finances?We are taking many steps. We will come with an open policy for investors. In this policy, the investors will have to buy land and all permissions would be taken by the state government. It is a step ahead of the single-window policy of many states. In tourism and solar, the government will aggressively seek investment. We will open new areas for tourism sector, which will also provide employment opportunities to the locals. We have started work on making Himachal green hydrogen state. We are studying how the state can be a hub for hydrogen fuel storage. We will be seeking the Centre’s financial under the Green Hydrogen Mission of ₹19,000 crore. We have decided to make Himachal a green state by 2025. In next three years, all public transport vehicles will be electric. In first phase, we will introduce 300 electric buses in Shimla, Mandi and Kangra districts.

The apple economy is the mainstay of Himachal. Your plans for it?No government has worked for apple economy more than Congress. We will build infrastructure at the local level to help apple farmers get better prices for their produce. We would develop food processing units and build Controlled Atmosphere (CA) cold storages. There will be lots of measures for farmers in our first budget.

The BJP has claimed that you have started revenge politics by scrapping schemes of their government.The BJP started schemes without any thought and looking at its positive outcome. The BJP government started 900 institutions just started six months before elections, and spent ₹5,000 crore on them, taking the state to the level of bankruptcy. The BJP government was running on Ram Bharosa and we are running government on Janata Bharosa with focus on governance and meeting people’s expectations. We are coming up with policies for people’s welfare.