Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday directed the officers to ensure time bound completion of various development projects so as to avoid price escalation and to ensure that the benefits of these projects percolate down to the persons on the ground.

Holding a meeting at Mandi to review development projects in Mandi district, he said that under the various housing schemes, the state government has set a target of constructing about 10000 houses for the poor homeless in the state during the current financial year, which would be a record in itself.

The CM said that over 1000 people have benefited under housing schemes in the district as they have been provided with assistance to the tune of Rs 14 crore during the last nearly two-and-a-half years.

He said that as many as 1,04,869 people were being provided social security pension in Mandi district and that a budget provision of Rs 156 crore has been made during this year. He said that 31530 new pension cases have been sanctioned in the district during the last nearly three years.

Thakur said that since the Medical College Ner Chowk has been designated as a dedicated Covid-19 hospital, the workload has been shifted to Zonal Hospital Mandi, adding that special emphasis thus needed to be laid on ensuring better facilities to be extended by this hospital. He also directed the authorities of Medical College Ner Chowk to take emergency medical cases.

The CM said that there were 28 ventilator-supported beds in the designated COVID19 hospital and over 300 isolation beds in the district Covid-19 hospital, Covid-19 Care Centres etc. to facilitate the corona patients.

He said that the coronavirus pandemic has forced everyone to rethink and re-plan their developmental priorities due to its adverse impact on the economy. He said that all the officers needed to re-plan their priorities and also reset the goals for time-bound completion of various development projects in the area. He said that about Rs 12,000 crore unspent money was lying with various departments, which needs to be identified and utilised for undertaking development works. He said that officers must ensure effective utilisation of this money to ensure that the pace of development does not suffer for want of funds.

Thakur said that despite being a second largest district after Kangra, Mandi district has done well in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. He said that the rainy season was more prone for coronavirus and thus greater precautions needed to be taken now. He said that focused approach was required to achieve the desired results. He also directed the PWD officers to ensure proper maintenance of roads in the state. He said that priority must be given to those projects which were nearing completion.

The CM said that to restart the economic activities in the state, his government has given various relaxations under the Unlock-IV. He said that everyone still needed to be more vigilant. He said that use of face mask and maintaining of social distancing was important to check spread of this virus.

Earlier, Thakur inspected the under-construction “Sanskriti Sadan” at Kangnidhar Mandi and directed the officers for time-bound completion of this Sadan.