Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister said that State Government would reiterate the matter of declaring Transgiri area of district Sirmaur tribal status at par with adjoining area of Uttrakhand with Government of India besides paying added attention towards developmental and welfare activities in the area. He was addressing the 1st meeting of re-constituted OBC Welfare Board at Dharamsala today.
Chief Minister said that there were about 26 backward gram panchayats in Shillai, Poanta and Sangrah developmental blocks of district Sirmaur which fall under the proposed plan of getting declared as tribal keeping in view difficult geo-physical conditions of the area. He said that in earlier tenure as well, unanimous resolution was adopted and passed by the H.P. Vidhan Sabha to get above gram panchayats declared as Scheduled Tribe so that justice could be delivered to the residents of the area since people of adjoining gram panchayats of Uttrakhand fall under scheduled tribe area and additional benefits were available for their speedy development. He said that all channels would be used to press the demand.
Prof. Dhumal said that there were certain other areas with difficult topography such as Bara Bhangal in district Kangra, Malana in district Kullu which too deserved similar status and additional financial aid for speedy development to bring them at par with rest of the State. He said that although Backward Area Sub-Plan was under implementation in the State, however, concerted efforts would be made to procure additional finances for accelerated development.
Mrs. Sarveen Chaudhary, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister, said that house building subsidy at the rate of Rs. 27,500 and house repair grant of Rs. 12500 were being made available to members of OBC. She added that loan facilities at low interest rate were also being made available for self employment avocations.
