Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur on Tuesday said there was a generational change in state politics this time.

“After the new BJP has taken over, even the Opposition party Congress has brought younger leadership to lead the Congress Legislature Party which is a good sign,” he said.

Talking to mediapersons briefly after the MLAs took oath in state Assembly here, Thakur patted his own back and appreciated the Central BJP leadership for formation of a balanced Council of ministers, with both experience and fresh faces in it.

“We will try to come up to the expectations of people. We will work with honesty. Our priority now is clean governance and zero tolerance to corruption,” he said.

Thakur, who has gone for major administrative reshuffle after he took oath, especially on the top positions of administrative and Police heads, did not link the reshuffle with any issues and said, “It is a natural process in the new government.”

He, however, categorically said the law and order situation was a matter of concern for the people of HP. “Somewhere there is a question mark on the functioning of the Police in HP. We will try and restore the faith of people on Police,” he said.

He said steps would be taken to curb crime against women and a special cell would be created to look into these cases in the three Ranges of Police, on priority.

He said the government will have 24X7 help lines in the name of Hoshiar Singh (who died under mysterious circumstances in Mandi district last year) and Guriya would be launched with strict monitoring on the action taken report by the Chief Minister’s Office.

Thakur strictly said the acchey dins are over for the mafias, whether drug or mining. “Himachal may be better compared with other states. But our younger generation is getting involved in drug abuse in different parts of the state and it is a matter of serious concern. We will work out a strategy to check this tendency,” he said.

Asked about whether he would continue with the tradition of winter stay in lower parts of the state, he said, “The Congress governments in the past have set up some traditions. Although I feel that it’s not about winters only, the CM should visit the entire state throughout the year. We will see. Sometimes, we have to keep with the sentiments of the people,” he said.

Thakur said the BJP government will look into the charge sheet submitted by the party previously, while in Opposition, against the then Congress government. “But let me make it clear that we will not work with vendetta or revengeful attitude,” he said.Thakur said the unemployment allowance was not the solution to unemployment problem in the state and the government would rather work out a policy for better employment opportunities for the youth.