Rs 101 crore earmarked for tourism development in Hamirpur: Bali

Shimla, Feb 28 (UNI) Himachal Pradesh Tourism Minister G S Bali today said the state government had earmarked a sum of Rs 101 crore during the last four years for developing tourism infrastructure in Hamirpur district.

Replying to a supplementary by Baldev Chand (BJP) during question hour here, he said a sum of Rs 49 lakh had been earmarked for developing tourism infrastructure, Rs 42 lakh under temple tourism and Rs 20 lakh for rafting.

Mr Singh said while the previous BJP government had managed to get Rs 15 crore from the Centre during its tenure, the present state government had already managed to get Rs 71 crore up till now.

The funds were allocated to the district as a whole and there was no segregation of funds for different destinations, he said.

Raising a supplementary, leader of BJP group in Vidhan Sabha, Prem Kumar Dhumal said the government had released approximately Rs nine lakh only for tourism projects in the state despite the allocation of Rs 49.69 lakh to Hamirpur district since 2003-2004.

He demanded the minister to explain how the released funds were utilized.

The Tourism Minister said it would be better for the BJP members to suggest places of tourist interest in the district where infrastructure could be developed, while lamenting at their failure to write to him on the issue during the last four years.

Replying to former tourism minister and Congress member Vijai Singh Mankotia's question as to what was the status of the Rs 80 crore proposal that had been sent to the Centre for integrated infrastructure for temple tourism sometime ago, he expressed ignorance over the issue, saying that he was more than willing to seek guidance from the senior party leader.

Replying to a question raised by Mahendra Singh (BJP), Power Minister Vidya Stokes said equipment of Rs 52.68 lakh purchased by the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board was found to be substandard and the government had roped in some private firms to monitor the quality of the equipment being purchased by the department.

In reply to another question by Damodar Dass (BJP) on the exploitation of labour class in the state, Agriculture Minister Raj Kishan Gaur said 3,552 such cases had come to the notice of the government during the last three years.

More than 2,500 cases had been disposed of, he said, adding that over 2,200 cases were related to the payment of wages and other matters.

UNI