In a joint press statement issued from Shimla, Health Minister Dr. (Col.) Dhani Ram Shandil and Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan launched a sharp critique against the former BJP administration and senior BJP leadership. Terming the 2017–2022 BJP tenure a “dark chapter” in Himachal Pradesh’s development, the ministers dismissed recent criticism by Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda as politically motivated and factually baseless.
The ministers highlighted severe delays in central funding, revealing that the Centre has withheld ₹112 crore due under the Ayushman Bharat scheme for 2021–2026. Despite a standard 90:10 funding split where the state’s share should have been around ₹60 crore, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s government has mobilized over ₹203 crore from its own resources—nearly four times its designated share—to cover nearly 2.85 lakh patients receiving care worth ₹420 crore since 2023.
Critical healthcare infrastructure has also faced bottlenecks due to unpaid central allocations under the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission. Funding delays have hampered progress on 9 Critical Care Blocks, 12 District Integrated Public Health Laboratories, 38 Urban Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, and 73 Block Public Health Units across the state. Pointing out that the present government inherited a ₹75,000 crore debt alongside ₹10,000 crore in employee liabilities from the previous regime, the ministers affirmed that the current administration remains committed to fiscal discipline, transparency, and self-reliance.
डिजिटल क्रांति का मेला: धर्मशाला में 16-17 अक्टूबर को ई-गवर्नेंस सम्मेलन
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