Himachal Pradesh Congress and BJP on Tuesday sparred over the leasing of tourism department properties that have been recently constructed with ADB funds to private players.

After the Question Hour on the 4th day of the ongoing winter session of HP Vidhan Sabha at Tapovan in Dharamshala in Kangra district, the Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri raised the issue under the point of order.

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Agnihotri said the state government had put ‘Himachal on Sale’ by selling Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) properties to private players.

“Four tourism properties in Mandi, Solan and Kullu districts which includes convention centres and culture centres, had been sold to private players for 10-15 years which was against norms.

These properties have been constructed with funds provided on loan by ADB,” he added.

He stated that Rs 2,095 crore loan was recently sanctioned for creating tourism infrastructure in the state to develop similar public assets.

“If the state government wants to sell out these public properties to private players too why these were being built in the first place,” he added.

The ruling members, however, rejected Agnihotri’s charge by saying that the Congress member was lying on record in the house which is not acceptable.

This led to heated exchanges between ruling and opposition members which forced Agnihotri to cut short his statement. The Congress legislators then moved into the well of the house and raised slogans against the state government.

After slogans shouting from both sides on the issues for some time, the Congress members staged a walkout from the house.

State Jal Shakti Minister Mahender Singh Thakur said that HPTDC properties were being leased out to private players for operation and these are not being sold.

He accused the previous Congress government of selling government tourism units including Wildflower Hall and said the properties leased out by the present BJP government will have the clause of a 5 per cent annual increase in lease money which will benefit the state government exchequer.

“Many tourism sector units in Himachal was running into losses with some even becoming defunct. If the HPTDC can’t operate these properties effectively then there was no harm in leasing these out to private players,” he said.

He also defended the action of Jai Ram Thakur government to lease out these properties and stated that it was being done as per the norms of ADB and the Union government directions.

He also accused the Congress members of playing for the media gallery by creating disruptions in the house on a daily basis and said they won’t be able to gain people’s trust by adopting such tactics.

State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Bhardwaj said former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh led UPA government had propagated Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) and Built-Operate and Transfer basis to make public sector units financially viable. But now opposition Congress members were opposing the same move of the BJP government.