Mood in the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Himachal Pradesh was upbeat after Chamba district was included in the list of country’s most backward districts. The isolated district was going to get a special grant and it would be developed with fresh parameters, said the party’s MP Shanta Kumar, representing Kangra Lok Sabha seat. Thanking the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said it would be the BJP government’s biggest gift to the hill State and the ignored districts such as Chamba would see the light of development.
Raw material
The remote district had now come under the list of underdeveloped districts in the Centre’s fresh policy announced specially made for the backward and less progressed districts. Though the hill State came under the category of reasonably developed States, t the Chamba district was lagging behind in growth, said Mr. Kumar. He added that the district required economic investment and new industries and it was fit to have some big cement plants because of availability of raw material here.
Addressing a meeting held to celebrate the announcement, Union Health Minister JP Nadda said the Congress had ruled the hill State for long but had intentionally kept the district backward. He said the Centre would would fulfil its promise of bringing developmental projects with the district being included in the list of less developed districts. New recruitments would be done in the Chamba Medical College and Hospital and the cement plant to come up at Sikri Dhar would end the unemployment problem prevailing in the district, said the Minister.
A new road map of development would be readied by a specially formed committee headed by the State Chief Secretary.