Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday announced an increase of five per cent in the dearness allowance of state government employees and pensioners which will be applicable from July 1, 2019. The DA has been increased from 148 percent to 153 percent of the basic pay, and Thakur said that it will ensure a financial benefit of over Rs 250 crore to the employees and pensioners.
At a function to mark the 50th Statehood Day of Himachal Pradesh at Jhandutta in Bilaspur, Thakur made a slew of announcements, including the opening of a new division of the public works department and grant Rs 3 crore to a senior secondary school in Jhandutta, and the establishment of a new police band in Mandi. To trace the development journey of the state, 51 programmes will be organised in different areas throughout the year to mark the golden jubilee year of the statehood, Thakur said.
He said that when Himachal Pradesh attained statehood, the length of roads was merely 7,740 kilometres and the literacy rate was 31.3 percent. There were less than five thousand educational institutions and less than 500 healthcare institutions, while less than three thousand villages had access to electricity, he said.
“During these 49 years, the state has witnessed unprecedented development in all sectors. Today, we have a sound network of more than 37 thousand kilometres of roads, and 3,128 out of 3,226 gram panchayats have road connectivity,” he said, adding that the state has been adjudged the best in the country for achieving sustainable development goals.
Thakur said that an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and a Hydro Engineering College are coming up in Bilaspur district. The government is developing Bilaspur as a tourist destination and Naina Devi would soon be connected to Anandpur Sahib by a ropeway. An ongoing augmentatation of a water supply scheme would benefit 19 gram panchayats in the Kot Dhar area, he said.