The Himachal Pradesh government will spend over Rs 1,483 crore to implement new schemes and augment and maintain the old drinking water and irrigation schemes during the current financial year.

Stating this while presiding over the district-level Independence Day function, Irrigation and Public Health Minister Vidya Stokes said 2,500 habitations would be provided drinking water facility in the state during the period. She said Rs 14 crore would be spent on different water supply, irrigation and flood-control schemes, besides installing hand pumps. She said 106 hand pumps had already been installed.

Stokes said that road construction was among the priority sector of the State Government and Rs. 42 crore would be spent on construction of bridges and roads in the Shimla district. She said that 43 kilometer new roads would be constructed in district Shimla and road facility would be provided to 13 villages.

Stokes said that Rs. 22 crore were being spent to provide Social Security Pension to 35516 persons in the district. She said that 27 projects under Integrated Water Management Programme were going on in 109 panchayats of the district and Rs. 175 crore would be spent on them during next five years. She honoured the persons for their outstanding contributions in various fields on the occasion.

Nand Lal, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Sanjay Rattan, MLA, Sanjay Chauhan, Mayor, Municipal Corporation, Shimla, Tikender Panwar, Deputy Mayor, Harbhajan Singh Bhajji, Vice Chairman, Water Management Board, Sukhvinder Singh Thakur, President, State Congress Committee, Dinesh Malhotra, Deputy Commissioner, senior officers and prominent people were present on the occasion.