The 66th Himachal Day was celebrated on Monday with great enthusiasm and fervor throughout the State.
The State level function was held at the historic Dhalpur ground at Kullu where Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh unfurled the national flag and took salute of a march past presented by police, home guards and NCC cadets.
On April 15, 1948, Himachal Pradesh came into existence after merger of 30 princely States. Functions were organized at State level and district level to mark the occasion. Unfurling of national flag, march past and cultural programmes were main attractions of the celebrations.
Thousands of people in their traditional colourful attire witnessed the ceremony with great enthusiasm and joy.
The Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh greeted the people of the State on the occasion and made several announcements for Kullu district. He said that starting from a scratch in the year 1948, the State has made rapid progress and Himachal Pradesh has emerged as a pioneer in development not only for hilly States of the country but for other States also.
He also said that there were only six villages which had electricity and 331 villages which had drinking water
facility at the time of formation of the State and today, almost 70 percent villages have piped water facility and every household has electricity.
Today, the State has a Government school within a radius of 3 kms and health institutions even in the farthest corners, but at the time of existence, there were only 331 educational institutions. Detailing the development the State had witnessed during the period, Virbhadra Singh said that the State Government was committed to ensure speedy and uniform development of the State.
Singh said that focus of police’s and programmes of the State Government was on speedy upliftment of weaker sections of the society and also the betterment of common man.
Paying tribute to Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar, the founder and first Chief Minister of the State, Virbhadra Singh said that it was Dr Pramar who spearheaded the struggle of the State for a separate entity, status and size and laid a sound foundation for its development.
The Chief Minister announced an amount of Rs25 lakh for development and maintenance of Dalpur Ground at Kullu and opening of tourism information centre at Bhunter for facilitating the tourists visiting the area.