New Delhi   

50 per cent quota for women in Himachal panchayats, local bodies

NEW DELHI: Announcing a major initiative to empower women at the grassroots level, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal on Tuesday declared that his Government had decided to implement the 50 per cent reservation for women in Panchayati Raj institutions as well as local urban bodies.

“It is our first effort to empower women and increase their representation in the share of power. We have taken the lead to bring them into the mainstream to make them part of the decision-making process and in matters of governance and development in rural and urban areas of the State,” Mr. Dhumal said during his visit to the Capital to attend a meeting of NDA constituents.

Terming corruption and unemployment as major areas of concern, he said he would come down heavily on those indulging in corruption. He said his priority would be open up new sectors and avenues of employment in the coming months. “We have just taken over a bankrupt State exchequer. We are working on a number of scheme and initiatives that would be announced soon,” he said.

Mr. Dhumal said he had sent out clear instructions to all departments not to assemble children on the roads or at grounds for any political or administrative function. A ban has also been imposed on holding of functions and ceremonies in schools in order to avoid any disruption of educational activity. Stating that his government had taken a number of major welfare measures within a short span, the Chief Minister said that in order to tackle the menace of corruption in allotment of mini and micro hydro projects, it had been decided that all power projects above 5 MW would be thrown open for global bidding, doing away with the discretionary power of the Cabinet to allot such projects.

“My priority would be to focus on infrastructure development, increasing the road network and taking administration to the doorstep of the people. People should not travel long distances to Shimla to get their work done ,” Mr. Dhumal said, who is popularly known as ``Sadakwala Mukhiya Mantri” for having laid a wide road network during his previous tenure.

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