Leader of Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh State Assembly, Jai Ram Thakur, slammed the Congress-led state government for either discontinuing several welfare schemes and services or stalling the budget for schemes that were beneficial to various segments of the population.

The Leader of the Opposition, who is in Una to attend a BJP meeting, stated on Thursday that the present government in the state is discontinuing facilities that are beneficial to people.

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“This government did not provide any facilities during its one-and-a-half-year tenure but stopped dozens of ongoing schemes and snatched the welfare services from the people. This government has only taken away facilities from newborns to the elderly and helpless people.”

The Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government has taken away baby kits for newborns, ‘shagun’ for daughters’ marriages, pension for the helpless, and free treatment for patients, he said.

He pointed out that the government’s actions have led to major disruptions in healthcare services, with significant delays in treatment in government hospitals following restrictions on operations under Himcare in private hospitals.

This has forced patients to wait for months to get themselves operated in government hospitals, he lamented.

Taking a jibe at Sukhu, Thakur said that the Chief Minister calls it ‘vayavastha parivartan’ (system change), but in reality, this entire system is nothing less than a government that has come to a standstill.

Thakur said, “The previous BJP government had made provision for baby kits to welcome the newborns. Now, people are not getting them. The Sahara pension for helpless people, provision for Him Care facility for free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh for sick people. All this was part of the government’s responsibility towards the welfare of the people of the state.”

“No government should discontinue such schemes. However, the Sukhu government has stopped them. The budget for schemes for needy people was withdrawn,” he charged.

He criticised the government’s management and decision-making, labelling it as insensitive and indicating a lack of concern for the people of the state.

Every section of the state is troubled by the government’s failure, he blamed. “The government that came to power in the name of ten guarantees has either stopped dozens of schemes or is trying to stop them unofficially by halting their budget,” he said taking a dig at the state government.

“This government is setting records in withdrawing notifications. They issue a notification in the evening and later withdraw it by late night or the next morning,” Thakur said, adding that the government issued a notification for Veterinary Pharmacist on July 16 and withdrew it on July 17.

He said it is high time the government released the pending result of the Staff Selection Commission and completed the recruitment as soon as possible.