HimVani
Shimla (Dec 8): Atal Bijlee Bachat Yojna has been a great success and it has led to saving of one hundred crore rupees per annum to the state exchequer. This was stated by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal while giving a suo motu statement in the Vidhan Sabha here today.
Dhumal said that the main aim of the scheme was to reduce power consumption among the state consumers and to sell surplus power to adjoining states to get more income. He said that under the scheme, fifteen lakh households were given sixty lakh CFL bulbs free of cost. The use of those bulbs led to saving of about 17.50 crores units of power and that in turn was sold to nearby states on higher rates.
The Chief Minister said that out of sixty lakh CFL bulbs that were given to the consumers of state only, 3.18 lakh were changed as the company with which the government had finalized the tenders had given an undertaking that if these bulbs didn’t function within eighteen months those would be replaced.
He chided those who were opposing this ambitious scheme of the state government and said that such persons were anti-people and had no love and affection with the state people. He claimed that purchased CFL bulbs were of high quality and this fact has been verified by many organizations.
The Chief Minister told the House in reply to a question by Suresh Bhardwaj of BJP that there is a proposal to set up a museum in Gaiety Theater. He said that the state government has given a part of the first floor to Lalit Kala Academy for starting its operations there. The academy has given a sum of Rs 53 lakh for the renovation of gaiety theater, which was renovated at a cost of Rs 12.60 crore
There are 22,278 hand pumps installed at different parts of the state to provide clean water to the people in areas where water is not available naturally. This was stated by HP public health and irrigation minister Ravinder Ravi while replying to a question by Hira Lal and Dile Ram both of BJP. He said that there is a target of installing 2,500 hand pumps in the state during the current fiscal year out of which 1,649 had already been installed.
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal while intervening into a question by Roop Singh Thakur of BJP, told the House that the central government had yet not released any penny for the state for the loss caused to government and private properties due to heavy rains and cloudbursts during the last monsoon season. He admitted that a central team visited the state and assured that adequate relief would be given but so for no relief had been received by the state.
Earlier, public works department minister Ghulab Singh Thakur told the House that total loss to the state was estimated at Rs 2,068 crore and the state government had demanded a sum of Rs 1,824 crore relief from the central government. He said that while loss to the government properties was to the tune of Rs 1545.43 crore rupees, it was Rs 523 rupees in respect of private properties.
Mr. Thakur told the members that the state government had already released a sum of Rs 130.76 crore to various departments through concerned deputy commissioners under the natural calamity relief programme.
