Senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal condemned the Himachal Pradesh Congress government’s decision to revive the lottery system and warned of social and economic ruin.
He said on Saturday that the decision taken during the cabinet meeting to restart the lottery in the state is an unfortunate move that would only push Himachal Pradesh towards ruin.
“On April 17, 1996, the High Court imposed a complete ban on the sale of single-digit lotteries operating in the state. Later, when I first became Chief Minister in 1998, the BJP government decided unanimously in 1999 to shut down the entire lottery system in Himachal Pradesh,” Dhumal said, adding that this was not just a decision but a far-sighted step to save the state from devastation.
At that time, government employees, retirees, workers, and youth had started buying lotteries in large numbers, putting at stake salaries, savings, pensions, and wages, which led to the ruin of many families and homes, he recalled, adding that to prevent the people of Himachal Pradesh from becoming addicted to this curse, the lottery was banned in the public interest.
Many employees and retirees had lost their salaries and retirement savings to lotteries, he lamented.
“In 2004, the Congress government reintroduced lotteries, but later, then Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh again imposed a complete ban on the system. Perhaps he, too, realised that lotteries were a curse. At that time, the state earned barely four to five crore rupees from it,” he said.
“Currently, Himachal Pradesh has a total of 231,180 employees, of which 160,000 are permanent staff. Similarly, there are 9 to 10 lakh unemployed people in the state whose lives could be endangered by the lottery system. The Congress government came to power promising one lakh permanent jobs in its first cabinet and five lakh permanent jobs in five years, but in reality, Himachal Pradesh now seems to be turning into a hub of liquor, drugs, cannabis, narcotics, and lotteries,” the former CM said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party strongly condemns this decision and demands that the government immediately withdraw this anti-people move, Dhumal asserted.