Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has appealed to all the voters of the state to cast their vote on June 1.

In a statement issued here on Friday, he said that elections are the biggest festival of democracy and everyone’s participation in this festival is very important.

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“Every vote is precious in the election. This time the election is not an ordinary election because this time the election is between honesty and dishonesty. Those who have tried to buy votes with money power, this is the time to teach them a lesson,” he appealed.

The Chief Minister said that in the last one and a half year tenure, the Congress government stood with the people of the state in every happiness and sorrow.

In the times of disaster, the Congress government gave a special package of Rs 4500 crore and rehabilitated 22 thousand disaster-affected families.

He said that the Congress government provided pensions to 1.36 lakh government employees.

“In the tenure of one and a quarter years, the dearness allowance was increased by seven percent and the diet money of police personnel was increased to Rs 1000. Along with this, the arrears of pensioners are also being cleared,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that the Congress government has made schemes for the welfare of other classes along with the working class.

“The Congress government started a scheme to give a pension of Rs 1500 to women, however, the BJP created obstacles in it. Along with this, the state government settled the pending revenue cases on priority and through Revenue Lok Adalats in the state, more than one lakh cases of Intkaal and about eight thousand cases of partition were settled and people were provided relief,” he said.

“The Congress government increased the MGNREGA daily wage from Rs 60 to Rs 300. Apart from this, provisions have been made like free education for children of widows up to 27 years and financial assistance of three lakh rupees for widows to build houses,” he said.

As many as 4000 orphan children of the state have been adopted as Children of the State and the responsibility of their maintenance and education has been legally made the responsibility of the state government, added Sukhu.

Other initiatives include free treatment of upto Rs 25 lakh to the elderly people above the age of 70 years, increase in support price of apple and mango by a historic Rs 1.50 to Rs 12 cow milk is being purchased at the rate of Rs 45 and buffalo milk at the rate of Rs 55, he added.

He said that the Congress Government has made schemes for the welfare of every section. Three and a half years of the Congress Government’s tenure is still left and we will dedicate each and every day of ours for public service.