Himachal govt announces daily wages revision on I-Day

Rekong Peo, Himachal Pradesh, Aug 15 (UNI) The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to revise the minimum daily wages from Rs 75 to Rs 80 per day with effect from December this year.

Likewise the pay of Home Guards would be revised from Rs 130 to Rs 150 per day from December.

This announcement was made by Chief Minister Virbahdra Singh at the state-level 61st Independence Day function celebrated at the remote tribal district of Kinnaur today.

Earlier, the Chief Minister unfurled the National Tricolour and took the salute at an impressive march-past presented by the contingents of Police and Home-guards.

In his speech, Mr Singh paid rich tributes to the first Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi for their contribution in the creation and progress of Himachal Pradesh. He also paid tributes to the states first chief minister, Dr Y S Parmar who was instrumental in creating the hill state.

He said his government was making concerted efforts towards the special developmental requirements of the tribal people. The government had created Tribal Sub Plan for tribal areas and scheduled caste component Plan for villages where the community was in majority and made provisions of adequate funds for the targeted groups, Mr Singh said.

The Chief Minister said National Rural Employment Gurantee scheme was under implementation in Sirmaur, Chamba, Kangra and Mandi districts and efforts were afoot to extend the scheme to every district of the state.

Elaborating the achievements of his government, the chief minister said the state had 17,000 educational institutions compared to only 331 in 1948, 30,000 km of road compared to 228 km in 1948.

The per capita income had increased over the years and electrification of all the census villages was achieved way back in 1987.

Governor V K Kokje unfurled the National Tricolour at Raj Bhawan here and took the salute at a march past by contingents of the police, NCC and Scouts. Colourful functions depicting the spirit of nationalism were organised at the district, sub-divisional and block-level where ministers unfurled the National Flag. Cultural programmes by various troupes, school children were the highlights of the days celebrations in the hill state.

UNI