Assembly session advances in HP, CM's second budget on February 9

Shimla: Expecting the Election Commission (EC) announcing the Parliamentary polls sometime in March first week, Himachal Pradesh assembly budget session has been advanced and even shortened to enable passing of the state's next budget for 2019-20 this month.

State Assembly Speaker Dr. Rajeev Bindal said on Wednesday that session will begin on February 4 and will have a total of 13 sittings.

The opposition Congress and ruling BJP MLAs have already sent to the Assembly secretariat more than 600 questions relating to some of the issues involving the Governance, delivery of services and matters of public importance.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, who is also finance minister, will present the budget on February 9, which will see a three debate in the House before being passed on February 18.

In view of the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP government will try to woo farmers, women, rural masses and business community/traders and highlight as to how Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after the return of the BJP, had tried to help the state by extending projects worth Rs 65000 crore.

The session will begin with Governor's Address on February 4, he said appealing the opposition and ruling BJP to help in smooth running of the proceedings to transact maximum business.

At a meeting of the Press Gallery committee, Dr. Bindal said, "He will try to give maximum time to the MLAs to raise issues of public importance and avoid disruptions."

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, who flew to Bengaluru, on Tuesday, did a roadshow to woo investments in the state offering a series of facilities and early clearances for new investments in the state.

He said the state government proposes to host a mega global investment meet at Dharamshala in June 2019, after the Lok Sabha polls.