imachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday chaired the meeting with MLAs from Kangra, Kullu and Kinnaur districts to discuss their priorities for the annual budget 2025-26.
He informed that the state government had secured approval for 127 projects worth Rs. 903.21 crore from NABARD for the year 2024-25. 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 amounting to 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.
Sukhu assured that efforts were being made to secure approval for more MLA-priority projects from NABARD by March, 2025. Apart from this, the government has allocated Rs. 1087.77 crore under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) for 2024-25, with 5.28 percent increase as compared to previous year. He said that the state government was working with the motto of 'Vyavastha Parivartan' for the overall and inclusive development of the state. He said that significant decisions had been taken over the past two years in the sectors like education, healthcare, self-employment, tourism, infrastructure, agriculture, horticulture, industry and women and child development. He reiterated that the present state government was dedicated to ensuring rapid and sustainable progress of all sections of the society. The government has increased the daily wages of the MNREGA workers from Rs. 240 to Rs. 300 benefitting over thousand's of the workers.
He said that in the next three years, the state government would introduce various schemes for strengthening the rural economy which would also generate employment opportunities for the local youth. Efforts were also being made to boost tourism in the state, with a special focus on religious and tea tourism. He said that the tea tourism model of West Bengal would also be studied for possible implementation in Himachal Pradesh. He said that 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.
CM launches registration form for natural farming
Sukhu also launched a simplified registration form to enroll farmers in natural farming in the State during MLAs priorities meeting and said that it could be filled online or offline by the farmers.
He said interested farmers could now connect with natural farming easily by filling up this form. The registration forms, which will generate specific information about the land, crops grown, breed of animals kept by the farmers and some other details regarding training in natural farming, will be distributed amongst farmers in all the Panchayats in the State. He said this will give further impetus to natural farming in 2025-26 in the state.
Sukhu said that the State government recently procured 398.976 MT naturally grown maize from 1508 farmers at Rs 30 per Kg, which is the highest Minimum Support Price (MSP) in the country. He said that a similar procedure would be adopted to procure naturally produced wheat in the ensuing season at a MSP of Rs 40 per Kg. He said that one kilogram and five kilogram packets of the naturally produced maize flour are available under the brand name 'Him Bhog'. He said that 38.225 MT of maize flour has been sold through 1054 Fair Price Shops and 73.52 MT has been sold through Wholesale units of HP state Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd till 1st February, 2025.