Metal road connectivity to every Himachal village in 5 years if BJP re-elected: Anurag Thakur

Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday said the next BJP government in Himachal Pradesh will connect every village in the state with metal roads in five years and improve basic infrastructure at pilgrimage centres.

Addressing election rallies in Ghumarvi, Jhanduta and Sadar assembly constituencies in Bilaspur district, Thakur said the BJP will implement 'Project Shakti' in the state over the next 10 years to improve transport infrastructure.

He said Rs 12,000 crore will be spent over the next 10 years to improve transport and basic infrastructure near pilgrimage centres and temples in the state.

In a bid to strengthen the health infrastructure, the number of mobile clinic vans will be doubled in every assembly constituency to ensure that people in far-flung places get access to medical facilities.

Thakur said the "double engine" government in Himachal Pradesh has built 12,000 km long rural roads in the last eight years and the state was also connected to the national capital with the modern Vande Bharat train.

The senior BJP leader hit out at the Congress, accusing it of stalling development projects in the state, particularly in Bilaspur district.

“We sanctioned the AIIMS project worth Rs 1,470 crore, but the then Congress government did not allot land for it. In 2010, the then BJP government in the state proposed a central university for the state, but the Congress government created hurdles in the process,” Thakur said.

He said the hydrocarbon engineering college and the medical college proposed by the then BJP government also faced the same fate.

Thakur's father Prem Kumar Dhumal was the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh between 2007 and 2012.

The Union minister said that in 2014, the Modi government proposed to set up the Indian Institute of Management in the state, but the then Congress government delayed the project.

"The Congress had promised in 2003 to give a government job to one person in every household. The party got some forms filled in 2012 and even promised unemployment allowance, formed the government but did nothing,” Thakur said.

Polling in Himachal Pradesh will be held on November 12 and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 8.