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100 days of BJP govt in Himachal: CM Jairam Thakur gives ‘realistic’ view

Jairam Thakur says he is new, so people have questions in mind about his working, but it takes time to settle down

100 days of BJP govt in Himachal: CM Jairam Thakur gives ‘realistic’ view

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur addresses the media in Shimla on April 9. (Photo: SNS/Lalit Kumar)

“Hundred days is too short a period to perform or evaluate the performance of any government. But we have taken some steps to give a direction to the state. The results will come in times to come.” This was how Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur summed up the BJP government’s first 100 days in power.

Thakur assumed office on 27 December, 2017, in a sudden twist of political events.

Being realistic in his first formal interaction with mediapersons, what the government named as ‘Samwaad Sattar’ in the backdrop of ‘100 din vikas key, pragati aur vishvas key’, Jai Ram Thakur Monday admitted that everybody had questions in mind about him and his working.

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“I am in the new role. People, media and even officers are thinking that what we are up to and how we will do it? But whenever, there is a new person and new responsibility, it takes some time to settle down,” he elaborated.

“There are so many difficulties. But I am determined to cross all the hurdles.”

However, he hastened to add: “We (including ministers) have been able to handle the month long budget session of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, effectively, which indicates our approach.”

Thakur was accompanied by a few ministers, including Education Minister Suresh Bhardwaj, and some senior bureaucrats.

He listed the achievements of his government in three months and said the budget schemes had the government’s commitment to do something new.

“It’s for the first time that any budget speaks of 28 new schemes in different sectors in one go,” he said.

Thakur said no government could perform without targets. “We also set some targets in the first hundred days. We got 640 suggestions as to how to go about in different spheres, out of which we shortlisted 550 targets. We have accomplished 472 of them,” he said.

Thakur said the government had taken some new initiatives immediately as it took over, which included the reduction in age of social security pension from 80 years to 70 years, grant of benefits due to employees and pensioners, steps on women security, a check on illegal mining, work on gau vansh and plan to mobilise funds for water supply schemes which were hanging fire for want of money.

For the first time, any government has kept Rs 100 crore for maintenance of roads and Rs 50 crore for promoting untouched tourist destinations.

On resource mobilisation in the fund-starved state, which is under a debt of over Rs 46,000 crore, the CM said, “We are bringing new policy on mining, which will have strict provisions against illegal mining to increase revenue and we are formulating new power policy to boost hydro power agenda of Himachal that got stagnated for practical reasons over last some years”.

He said his government would now set the targets for six months.

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