Monsoon session of Himachal Pradesh Assembly commences with discussion on natural calamities

Shimla, Aug 18 (PTI) The 15-day Monsoon session of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, with 12 sittings, commenced here on Monday with a debate on natural disasters.

Ahead of the session, Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania convened an all-party meeting and urged the members to cooperate in the smooth running of the House and raise issues of public interest.

Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan also attended the meeting.

The speaker informed the members that the Assembly secretariat has received 1,018 questions, including 815 starred and 203 unstarred.

"The beauty of democracy is that the opposition raises issues, the ruling party replies and the opposition will forcefully raise the issues of disaster management, unemployment, financial crisis and shifting of institutions," Thakur said after the meeting.

The Congress government in the hill state had promised to give five lakh jobs in five years but no progress has been made in this direction and no concrete steps have been taken, he added.

Chauhan said the government wants the session to run smoothly and that it has been extended to include 12 sittings.

He said during the 2023 monsoon season, the state suffered a loss of Rs 10,000 crore but the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre gave only Rs 1,500 crore and during the ongoing monsoon season, the loss is estimated at Rs 2,500 crore. PTI BPL RC