Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu informed the state assembly that the ongoing schemes in Himachal Pradesh in the name of any former prime minister will not be closed.

He said this in a reply to BJP members Vinod Kumar and Lokendra Kumar during the question hour in the State Legislative Assembly on Monday.

He said, “The change of government is a continuous process and that the present government respects the schemes running in the names of all the former prime ministers.”

His government has great regard and respect for all former prime ministers including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he said, adding that he had already mentioned in his reply to the discussion on the budget that all the schemes running in the name of Atal Bihari Vajpayee will continue.

Dismissing all the apprehension expressed by Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur about the future of schools built under the ‘Atal Adarsh Vidyalaya Yojana’ launched by the previous BJP government, he said that under the Rajiv Gandhi Day-Boarding School Scheme, the school will be opened within the radius of 3 to 4 km from the SDM office all the students of the primary schools falling in this area will be included in these schools.

All other facilities including sports grounds would be made available in these schools and there will be arrangement of water and swimming pools.

He said that the government is spending Rs 36,000 on each child studying in this primary school.

Education Minister Rohit Thakur Earlier, in response to the original question disclosed that land has been selected for Rajiv Gandhi Day Boarding in all 68 assembly constituencies of the state.

 “In nine out of these 68 constituencies, the land has already been transferred in the name of the education department and these constituencies include Indora, Jaswan Paragpur, Palampur, Kinnaur, Una, Haroli, Kutlehar, Gagret and Barsar,: he said.

The cases of FCA clearance of these schools in 22 assembly constituencies have been sent for approval, he added.

Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur had questioned that clarity in the concept of Rajiv Gandhi Day-Boarding School.

The chief minister, responding to a question from MLA Inder Dutt Lakhanpal regarding outsource employees, said that as thousands of youth of the state were employed in this category, the government was contemplating to formulate a policy for them.

Since a huge number of youths were working as outsource employees in the state, the government has increased their wages by Rs 750 per month to give them immediate relief, till a policy is formulated for them.

Assuring that no outsource employees would be removed from the jobs, Sukhu said that as 5,000 regular appointments would be made in the Jal Shakti Department, the outsource employees should apply for these jobs.