Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday said despite the Covid pandemic impacting the economy severely, his government had ensured that development works did not get affected.
Addressing a press conference to mark three years of coming to power in the state, Thakur said his government laid foundation stones to the tune of Rs 3500 Crore despite financial constraints of the state during the Covid pandemic.
He said the revenue loss to the state during the Covid pandemic has come down from 54 per cent in the first quarter to 37 per cent in the second quarter and 11 per cent so far in the third quarter of this fiscal.
Thakur said that his government borrowed about Rs 4,000 Crore as fresh loans whereas it had also repaid previous loans worth Rs 3,700 in this financial year. The state is expecting liberal financial assistance of tunes to several thousand crores from the Centre. Listing his government’s achievements, he said he believed in politics of development and not vendetta. He lashed out at the Congress for misleading the people with distorted facts, be it on Covid mortality, suicides or outstanding loans. “We are still repaying the loans raised by them during their rule,” he said. He said the monsoon session was called off due to a sudden spike in Covid cases and Congress was now trying to politicise the issue.
He said the three-year BJP rule had ensured uniform and balanced development, without discrimination on party lines, which was the norm during previous Congress rule.
He said BJP will repeat the Government in 2022 assembly polls on the basis of its performance and popularity.