CHANDIGARH: Himachal Pradesh Government requested the Centre for a special industrial package to be provided to the state to ensure balanced regional development. Furthermore, all deputy commissioners and superintendents of police across the state have been instructed to hear public grievances twice a week in their offices.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu called on Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal in New Delhi late evening on Thursday.
Sukhu requested for a special industrial package to be provided to Himachal Pradesh, similar to those provided to North-eastern states and Jammu and Kashmir.
He also urged the Centre to restart the previous transport subsidy scheme for hilly areas like Himachal Pradesh keeping in view high logistic costs due to rugged terrain. He said that this would help in promoting industrial production and boosting exports.
He also requested for providing funds for industrial infrastructure development projects, quality testing labs and certification labs for export promotion.
Sukhu also requested for releasing pending amount of capital subsidy under Industrial Development Scheme and sanctioning pending cases under the IDS at the earliest.
The Union Minister Piyush Goyal assured that the issues raised would be examined and that all possible support to the state would be extended.
Meanwhile, all deputy commissioners and superintendents of police across the state will hear public grievances in their offices on every Monday and Thursday.
A notification has been issued by the Secretary, Administrative Reforms following the directives of CM Sukhu. As per the notification, if Monday or Thursday happens to be a public holiday, the DCs will attend to their duties on the next working day. This directive is also applicable to Superintendents of Police in all the districts. These instructions were imparted during the DC-SP's conference held in Shimla on November 7 and 8.
CM Sukhu emphasised the need for timely resolution of public issues to avoid unnecessary delay in solving their grievances. As part of this commitment, the government has also launched the ‘Sarkar Gaon Ke Dwar’ initiative, under which ministers will also visit the rural areas to listen to and resolve issues of the citizens.
The government has also resolved over 2.5 lakh pending revenue cases through Revenue Lok Adalats relieving people from the need to visit government offices repeatedly.