A total of 2,035 government institutions were denotified up to July 31, 2025, while 362 institutions have been opened since the Congress government came to power in Himachal Pradesh, said chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu in the Himachal Pradesh assembly in response to questions raised by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators, including former CM and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Jai Ram Thakur, during Question Hour.
These institutions were closed following consultations with the education minister and officials. Similarly, facilities were opened in the health sector without any doctors or support staff. In contrast, the institutions we have established are located where the public actually needed them; such institutions will continue to be opened in the future.”
Sukhu, while accusing the BJP of distributing “freebies” for political gain, said, “The BJP opened 750 schools that lacked both students and teachers.
Sukhu said that the state government would consider increasing the number of MBBS seats for the OBC category after the census data is released. The minister said that a heli-taxi service has also been introduced for the Manimahesh Yatra. “The government regularly issues directives to health institutions concerning Swine Flu and other types of influenza and also conducts research on the matter. In response, the revenue minister Jagat Negi acknowledged that pilgrims had faced various difficulties during the previous pilgrimage. Funds have been made available through LADA to improve traffic management during the pilgrimage.
Sukhu said the government was giving special attention to Chamba and had allocated ₹ 200 crore for completing the Chamba Medical College, besides working to strengthen its faculty. The CM’s reply came in response to a question raised by Congress MLA RS Bali, who pointed out that several departments employ multi-task workers instead of merely increasing their pay by ₹ 500 or ₹ 1,000. Regarding the reported death due to Swine Flu at IGMC, the patient had been transferred there from AIIMS Bilaspur,” Sukhu said.
Sukhu said that a new policy would be formulated for multi-task workers employed across various departments in Himachal. Sukhu said that necessary guidelines regarding Swine Flu have been issued to all health institutions. This was stated in response to the question of reservation for OBC by BJP MLA Sukhram Chaudhary who pointed out that, out of 610 seats, only 14 seats are reserved for OBC category which is a “crude joke” as the OBC population in the state has now reached 24%.
The ‘Mukhyamantri Apna Parivar Sukhi Parivar Yojana’ will be launched in the urban areas of Himachal. Rattan had pointed out that while the annual income limit for BPL and the yojana has been raised to ₹ 75,000 in rural areas, the limit remains at ₹ 26,500 in urban areas. He argued that this limit should be increased to ₹ 1 lakh so that more urban residents could benefit from the scheme.
The urban development minister Vikramaditya Singh said this while responding to a question raised by Congress MLA Sanjay Rattan during Zero Hour.
