CM wishes everyone on 76th Himachal Pradesh Day
shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday extended his best wishes to the people of the state on the 76th Himachal Day. “After eight months of India’s independence, this beautiful hilly state came into existence in the form of the centrally administered Chief Commissioner’s Province on 15 April 1948 with the merger of 30 small and big hilly princely states,” he said.
The credit for establishing Himachal Pradesh as a state goes to the then leadership as well as the protagonists and activists of the Praja Mandal movement besides the people of the State, Sukh said, adding that Dhami Golikand, Suket Satyagraha, Pajhauta Movement have a special significance in the glorious history of Himachal Pradesh.
On the auspicious occasion, the Chief Minister expressed gratitude to Yashwant Singh Parmar, the founder of Himachal Pradesh and the first Chief Minister of the State and all those great personalities, who worked diligently to get special recognition and status for this State.
Himachal Pradesh is also known as Veer Bhoomi. On this occasion, the Chief Minister paid tribute to all the valiant soldiers of the State, who have made sacrifices for the country. He also expressed gratitude to the hardworking and honest people of the State, who have brought laurels to the state besides providing special recognition in the country and abroad.
The Chief Minister said: “Our government was given the responsibility of serving the people of the State on 11th December 2022 and a new era of public welfare and Vyvastha Parivartan commenced in the State. After taking the oath as the Chief Minister, I visited the Balika Ashram Tutikandi, before assuming office at the Secretariat. I interacted with the children there. They didn’t demand anything but I was able to observe their determination to do something despite all odds. The state government decided to set up Mukhya Mantri Sukh-Ashray Kosh with an initial provision of Rs 101 crore. The government will play the role of parents to such orphans. It is our duty to look after their education, health and travel expenses. We have decided to adopt about 6,000 orphan kids as ‘Children of the State’ under the Mukhya Mantri Sukh-Ashray Yojana.”
He further added that his government is not here to enjoy power but to change the system. “The first budget of our government is not a routine one. To understand, contemplate and prepare new schemes, I held back-to-back meetings with various departments. It was a different budget prepared in the interest of the State. You will notice the impact of the schemes included in the budget within a year. We want self-reliant and vibrant Himachal by strengthening the economy. Our first assurance was to restore the Old Pension Scheme. To fulfil our commitment, we decided to bring 1.36 lakh NPS employees under the Old Pension Scheme in the very first cabinet meeting. Further, we have also decided to provide pension of Rs 1,500 to 2.31 lakh women,” Sukhu said.
