BJP veteran and former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has expressed his surprise at the allegation of the Congress led State government, wherein it blamed the BJP of being anti-Himachal.
In a statement issued here on Wednesday, he said that it seems that before giving the statement, historical facts were ignored and that the statement has been made contrary to the facts.
To make the people of the country aware of the facts, it is necessary that the entire matter be brought before the people in detail, he stated.
Punjab was reorganized on November 1, 1966, out of which Haryana became a new state and the hilly region was merged into Himachal, at that time there was a Congress government at the Centre.
Under the Punjab Re-Organization Act, 1966, a law passed in the Parliament, the state received assets and liabilities equal to the population that went to the state on the basis of reorganization.
At that time, the Congress was in power in the country and also in all the three states Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, but sadly, when the Bhakra Dam and other projects were being distributed, the Chief Minister or ministers of Himachal government did not attend any meeting, as a result Himachal’s right remained weak, he claimed.
The BJP had raised the question of royalty and Himachal’s share in power projects and pressing for the demands, Adhikar Yatra was taken out from Himachal to Delhi in which MPs and representatives of Panchayat Samiti’s participated, he added.
“Former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar was the then leader of the legislative party and the Adhikar Yatra was organized under his leadership. I was the state president of the party at that time,” he asserted.
“In Delhi, we staged a dharna with our demands and our national leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Krishna Lal Sharma also participated in the dharna, fully supporting our demands at the national level,” said Dhumal.
The issue of getting our share of 12 per cent free electricity was also raised by Shanta Kumar, when he was the CM and was supported by the then Union Energy Minister Kalpanath Rai, he said, claiming that the credit for providing royalty to Himachal also goes to the BJP leadership.
“After the BJP came to power in 2008 and efforts bore fruits, the decision of the Supreme Court came in favour of Himachal Pradesh, according to which in addition to 12 per cent free electricity, Himachal got 7.19 per cent share under the Punjab Reorganization Act from November 1, 1966,” he said.
The dues from November 1, 1966 to September 2012 were calculated and the outstanding amount was Rs 4300 crore. We put our claim of pending dues before the Supreme Court and the concerned states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and the Congress led UPA government at the Centre, he maintained.
“The Congress came to power in December 2012. Now the Congress government should tell what steps it took between 2012 and 2017 to collect the dues of Rs 4300 crore,” he questioned.
The Congress government failed to make serious efforts to collect its rights and dues, he blamed, adding that all the records are available with the government.