BJP state media in-charge Karan Nanda on Saturday said that under the Congress rule in Himachal Pradesh, inflation is rampant and has burdened the people of the state.

In a statement issued here, he said that people of the state that were already grappling with price hike have been rendered with yet another blow as building a house or commercial building is becoming more costly in the area falling under Municipal Corporations and Town and Country Planning (TCP) department of Himachal Pradesh.

He accused the state government of making amendments continuously in the Town and Country Planning Act to benefit big contractors and recently orders were also issued to increase the number of floors in commercial buildings.

“The state government has increased the rates of passing the map for building a house or commercial building by four to five folds. Inflation is continuously increasing under the Congress government and there is no end in sight to this increase,” said Nanda.

“Different rates have been fixed for the municipal corporations and the municipal councils and areas falling under the purview of TCP. The TCP department has issued its notification and according to the notification, earlier the fee for getting the map passed for building a house on four biswa land was Rs 5,000, which now will cost Rs 15,000 to Rs 16,000,” he said.

“The fee for getting the map passed for hotels and other commercial activities has also been increased by more than half. For getting the map passed within the limits of the Municipal Corporation, a fee of Rs 40 per square meter of built-up area will be charged. Earlier this fee was Rs 8,” he claimed.

On the other hand, for commercial establishments, this fee will be Rs 80 per square meter of built-up area, earlier it was Rs 10, he said.

“In TCP (Planning and Special Area) domestic, the fee will be Rs 30, earlier this fee was Rs 5. Similarly, for doing commercial activities, this fee will be Rs 60 per square meter of built-up a8rea. Earlier it was Rs 8,” he said.

He said that due to the economic mismanagement of the government, the people of Himachal Pradesh are facing the brunt of the financial crisis.

“Today there is a widespread discussion among the people that the situation in the state has deteriorated after the Congress government came to power,” claimed Nanda.