Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday said the hill state has achieved the target of about 97 per cent vaccination against the Covid-19.

Addressing a public meeting at Sarkaghat in the Mandi district, Thakur said this was possible due to the hard work of the doctors and paramedical staff as well as the active cooperation provided by the people of the state.

“The state government ensured that no one in the state is deprived of medical treatment due to non-availability of beds and oxygen in hospitals.

At the start of the pandemic, there were only two oxygen plants in Himachal Pradesh but today about 28 oxygen plants are being set up, out of which 12 oxygen plants have been made functional in the state,” he added.

He stated that the state government was committed to providing corruption-free governance to the people and not even a single allegation of corruption has been reported during about three and a half years tenure of the government.

“There is no place for corruption during the tenure of the present state government. The people of the state have given their wholehearted support to the present BJP government in all the elections viz Lok Sabha, PRIs, ULBs and by-election of two Assembly constituencies with record margins. In PRIs elections, BJP supported candidates won over 75 seats of pradhans in the state,” the CM said.

Thakur detailed various developmental and welfare schemes launched by the state government to ensure socio-economic upliftment of the people and said 3.17 lakh eligible families have been provided free gas connections under Grihini Suvidha Yojna.

Besides, HIMCARE scheme of the state government had proved a boon to those poor families not covered under the Ayushman Bharat Yojna of the Central government.

And as many as 1.75 lakh people had been benefitted under this scheme, he added.

He also inaugurated and laid foundation stones of projects worth Rs 140 crore in the Sarkaghat assembly constituency out of which Rs 100 crore projects were dedicated in the Baldwara area of the assembly segment.

State Jal Shakti minister Mahender Singh Thakur thanked the CM on behalf of the people of the Sarkaghat area for dedicating several developmental projects for the area and lauded his efforts in tackling the corona pandemic in the state.