Nabard Approves Rs 903.21 Cr for 127 Projects in Himachal

Shimla, Feb 3 (PTI) The Himachal Pradesh government has secured the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) approval for 127 projects worth Rs 903.21 crore for 2024-25, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Monday.

Chairing a meeting with MLAs from Kangra, Kullu and Kinnaur districts here to discuss their priorities for the annual budget 2025-26, he said these projects include 50 MLA-priority schemes under the Public Works Department worth Rs 412.75 crore and 23 MLA-priority schemes under the Jal Shakti Vibhag for Rs 179.07 crore.

These schemes include two major initiatives of the state, including establishment of a 1.5 LLPD capacity dairy processing plant at Dagwar in Kangra district and 96 electric bus charging stations, he said in a statement issued here.

The BJP MLAs did not attend the meeting and leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur maintained that there is no relevance of such meet when the works mentioned by the MLAs during past two years have not been done.

The state government is harassing BJP MLAs and their families, and giving importance to defeated and rejected Congress leaders, Thakur added.

Sukhu said the government has also allocated Rs 1,087.77 crore under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) for 2024-25, with 5.28 per cent increase as compared to the previous year.

In the upcoming three years, the state government would introduce various schemes for strengthening the rural economy, which would also generate employment opportunities for the local youth, he added.

Efforts were also being made to boost tourism in the state, with a special focus on religious and tea tourism, he said, adding that the tea tourism model of West Bengal would also be studied for possible implementation in the state, he said.

The government was working to root out the drug mafia from the state and assured that stricter measures would be enforced in the near future.

MLA from Indora Assembly Constituency, Malender Rajan, MLA Dehra Kamlesh Thakur, MLA, Jawalamukhi Sanjay Rattan, MLA Palampur Ashish Butail, MLA, Baijnath Kishori Lal, MLA Manali Bhuvneshwar and MLA Kullu Sunder Singh put forward their priority.