Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Tuesday presided over the closing ceremony of the International Shri Renuka Ji fair at Renuka, in Sirmour district saying that fairs and festivals were the integral part of our rich cultural repository and concerted efforts must be made to conserve the same for the generations to come.
He paid obeisance in the Lord Parshuram temple and Mata Renuka temple and also participated in the ‘Dev Vidai’ procession by giving shoulder to the palanquin of the Lord Parshuram.
Thakur said the present State Government was about to complete two years in office in December and during this period the State has witnessed unprecedented development. He said people of the State have given tremendous love and affection to the State Government. BJP has won all the elections held during this period be it Lok Sabha or the bye elections of two constituencies of the State.
He said that during the last about two years the efforts of the State Government was to ensure equitable and balanced development of the State, adding that on the day of assuming office, the State Government lowered the age limit for availing the benefit of old age pension without income limit from 80 years to 70 years. He said that Janmanch programme launched by the State Government has been appreciated even by the political opponents and as many as 35,000 issues had been resolved during this programme. He said that now the 1100 Chief Minister Sewa Sankalp Helpline was proving to be a boon to the people of the State for redressal of their grievances.
Thakur said under Ayushmann Bharat Yojna for the people of the Country for providing insurance cover of upto Rs 5 lakh as many as 22 lakh people of the State have been covered. He said the State Government has launched HimCare scheme to provide health insurance cover to those families who have not been covered under Ayushmann Bharat Yojna.
Chief Minister announced to increase the nazrana for palanquins (palkis) of four deities from Rs. 11 thousand to Rs. 21 thousand. He also visited the developmental exhibition in the fair installed by various departments and gave away prizes to participants and winners of the best exhibition. District Rural Development Authority received the first prize, second prize went to Education Department whereas Ayurveda Department bagged the third prize in exhibition.
Earlier, the Chief Minister opened new Irrigation and Public Health Sub Division at Dadhau. This would benefit about 50,000 people of twenty-three panchayats of the area and would have four sections of Dadhau, Renuka ji, Parada and Giri Nagar. He also inaugurated water supply scheme to Sirguldhar and some villages of Nahan tehsil constructed with an amount of Rs 3.60 crore.
This scheme would cover 46 habitats of four panchayats of the area.
Chief Minister also launched the ‘Polythene Free Sirmour Scheme’, an initiative of the district administration to make Sirmour district polythene free.