Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu said here on Thursday that the government would have to take tough decisions to bring the state’s economy back on track and make the state self-reliant by 2032.

Due to the decisions taken by the government in the last 14 months, the state’s economy is slowly getting back on track, he said during his Budget speech.

The chief minister was replying to the four-day discussion on the state’s general budget for the year 2024-25 in the Assembly on Thursday.

Amidst the chief minister’s reply, first Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur stood up to present his views and later the entire opposition stood on their seats in support of him.

At this, there was a lot of noise and sloganeering from both sides in the House and later Jai Ram Thakur announced a walkout saying that the chief minister was misleading the House by telling lies.

Sukhu said that the time has come to take strict decisions and policies and strict laws should be made in the interest of the state. “This may cause difficulty to the people of the state for some time, but its results will be worthwhile,” he said in response to the discussion on the budget address.

He proposed increasing the honorarium of senior resident doctors working in medical colleges and hospitals from Rs 33 thousand to Rs 40 thousand, increasing the honorarium of outsource employees by Rs 500 in the Public Works Department (PWD).

Widening of circular road in Shimla at a cost of Rs 45 crore, Rs 25 crore to be spent on construction of underground ducts for cables in Shimla city, construction of tunnel to connect Navbahar to IGMC, Shimla and that the construction of the tunnel would start this year. The Chief Minister also announced to increase the pension of 2.37 lakh women taking social security pension to Rs 1500 from February 25 and to start giving Rs 1500 to the women of the entire Lahaul-Spiti.

The government will take the decision of providing 300 units of free electricity to the domestic consumers of the state in future keeping in mind the circumstances, he added.

He said the Congress has made promises in the assembly elections for five years and all these promises will be fulfilled in a phased manner in the coming days.

“The state government has started the process of filling 17636 posts in the first year. In such a situation, the government will fill more than one lakh posts in the government sector in the next five years,” he said.

Attacking the Opposition, he said his government has not taken any decision from political point of view, but keeping in mind the interest and development of the state.

He claimed that there is no section left untouched in the budget of the next financial year of the state.

Sukhu also claimed that no one was accused of corruption during the 14-month tenure of his government and the basic mantra of the government is that no one should be left behind in the path of progress.

Taking a dig at Opposition, he said even at the time of disaster during last monsoons, BJP did not stand with the government.

He said Himachal did not get any special help from the Centre to deal with the disaster and the amount, which BJP claims as help, is the state’s share and budgetary support which is the right of the state.

Sukhu has advised all the doctors of the state who are agitating for their demands that they will have to wait for some time.

Doctors are causing trouble to patients by doing pen down strike, which is not right, he said, adding that the government protects the rights of doctors and they should trust the government.

The chief minister also said that as soon as the economic condition of the state improves, the demands of the doctors will also be accepted and new doctors will also be recruited.

Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania said that the budget was discussed for more than 20 hours. 27 members from the ruling party and 25 from the opposition participated in it.