Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on his second day sojorn in the Kangra district presided over marathon meetings with officers and officials of various departments to review the various development schemes at Dharamshala on Wednesday.

He directed the departments to disseminate information on the welfare schemes of the government so that people could be made aware about the same and be benefitted.

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The chief minister instructed the officials that the unspent funds which were earmarked for various works and could not be utilised well in time may be returned to Deputy Commissioner or diverted for other works on the recommendation of the concerned MLAs.

He said that the state government presented a ‘Green Budget’ this year under which 2 MW solar power projects would be set up in two Panchayats of each assembly constituency which also includes all the 15 assembly constituencies of Kangra district as well.

He directed that the site selection for setting up the Solar projects should be completed at the earliest.

Sukhu said that the state government has set a target of producing 500 MW of solar power this year. Besides, the state government has approved Rajiv Gandhi Swarozgar Yojana to provide 40 percent subsidy for setting up solar power projects ranging from 250 KW to 2 MW.

He said that the daily wages of MNREGA have been increased by Rs. 28 and enhanced it to Rs. 240 in the budget.

The state government has made a provision of providing financial assistance of Rs.1.5 lakh to widows and single women to construct a house and has set a target of benefitting 7000 women under this scheme along with providing them with electricity and water connection, said the Chief Minister.

Apart from this, 6000 orphans have been adopted as Children of the State, under which the state government is providing them financial help to build houses along with bearing the entire cost of their education.

“State government will launch Him Unnati Yojana, for which infrastructure was being developed and would purchase cow milk from the people at Rs.80 per litre and buffalo milk at Rs.100 per litre,” he said.

A provision in the budget has been made for providing pension of Rs. 1500 per month to 2.31 lakh women above the age of 18 years in the first phase under the ‘Indira Gandhi Mahila Samman Nidhi Yojana’ in a phased manner, he said, adding that all the eligible women of the state will be covered under this scheme.

After studying every aspect of the development of malnourished children, SOPs will be prepared and implemented in the entire state, he said, adding that it is necessary to improve the health of the malnourished children, for which monitoring system will be evolved and they will be taken care of upto the age of 15 years.

The Chief Minister said that 20 thousand meritorious girl students are being provided with a subsidy of Rs. 25,000 to buy e-scooties.

“Along with this, by amending the Land Ceiling Act, now like sons, the daughter will also be counted as a separate unit. So far only the son has been counted as a separate unit in the family and the daughter was deprived of their rights,” he said, adding that this is a historic decision of the state government has taken.

He also directed to select a suitable place for opening SDM in the Jaswan Paragpur assembly constituency.