Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur began his discussions with MLAs on finalisation of priorities for the Budget 2022-23 ---an annual exercise aimed to bring participation of the public representatives state's priorities on Development.
Chief Minister informed the MLAs that due to the effective financial management and resource allocation of the state government, an outlay of Rs.12,638 crore has been proposed for Financial Developmental Budget-2022-23.
Despite Covid crisis, the state government, said Chief Minister, has dedicated all its efforts for the welfare of every section of the society and for overall development of the state during the last four years. The government has initiated several programs during this period to make development of the State more inclusive and holistic.
The Chief Minister said the government has given top priority on strengthening health infrastructure in the State. He said that today there were 1014 ventilators in the state as compared to only 50 two year ago.
Under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, 4.26 lakh families have been registered and 1.20 lakh people have been provided free treatment worth Rs 145 crore. Under the Chief Minister HIMCARE Yojna 5.13 lakh families have been registered and 2.20 lakh families have been provided financial benefits of about Rs 200 crore. Similarly under the Ujjwala Yojna of the Centre and Grihini Suvidha Yojna of the government, more than 4.69 lakh families of
the State have been provided with free gas connections worth Rs 141.71 crore.
Thakur said under the Jal Jeevan Mission, a program sponsored by the central government, 8.23 lakh households have been provided tap water facility and target has been fixed to achieve the target to cover all the households by mid of this year.
Chief Minister said that during the tenure of the previous government, a total of 779 MLA priority schemes worth Rs 3,200.34 crore were approved through NABARD, whereas during the first four years tenure of the present state government, 825 MLA priority schemes have been approved at a cost of Rs. 3,347.20 crore. A total provision of Rs 2,363.80 crore was made for the implementation of MLA priority schemes in the five years of the previous government's tenure, whereas the present government has made a provision of Rs 3,183.37 crore in the first four years itself.