By IANS,
Shimla : Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh Friday announced a slew of schemes for the people, especially school children, women and senior citizens.
To woo the investors, he said a new industrial policy would be formulated.
Speaking at a public rally in Sunni in Shimla district marking Himachal Pradesh’s 43rd statehood day, the chief minister announced free travel in state-run buses to all students of government schools from the next academic session.
He announced the enhancement of social security pension from Rs.450 to Rs.500 per month.
Under the Janani Suraksha Yojna, free travel will be extended to women with newborns from hospitals to their residence.
Singh also said that a multi-purpose stadium would be built at Katasani near Shimla.
“Our endeavour will be to check unemployment, corruption and complete ongoing projects within a stipulated timeframe,” he added.
For promoting industrial investment, he said pollution-free, income-generating and employment-oriented industrial units would be encouraged.
The chief minister said a new industrial policy would be formulated.
“Efforts would be made to revive the central industrial package (which expired in March 2010) and the benefits of the package would be available to industries coming up in remote areas. We would encourage micro, small and medium exporting enterprises,” Singh said.
On the commissioning of hydropower projects, the chief minister said all of them would be completed within their stipulated timeframes to avoid cost escalation and time overruns.
“Over the next five years, the government would make efforts to generate an additional 5,000 MW hydropower,” he added.