Union planning minister raps Dhumal

Shimla : Union minister for planning Ashwani Kumar on Monday dismissed Himachal Pradesh’s claim that the Centre was not doing enough to help the hill state .

Responding to the charge levelled by chief minister P.K.Dhumal that the Centre was discriminating against special category states by giving special treatment to J&K and the NE states and leaving out Himachal and Uttarakhand .

“Himachal’s parametres in education , health , income and other sectors are one of the highest in the country so the state should not mind if needy states like J&K and the NE are helped by the Centre ,” he said .

In view of the assembly polls later this year the Dhumal led government has been going hammer and tongs about being the number one state in the country in many fields and has won around 60 awards in the last few years .

This seems to have proved counter productive as the union minister for planning said if the state itself acknowledges that it is a relatively well of state it may not need so much help .

Kumar said it was not correct to say the Centre was discriminating against states like Himachal as the current level of development would not have been achieved without the Centre’s help .