No retirement of doctors till March 2027: Himachal CM Sukhu in Independence Day speech

Barsar (HP): Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, in his Independence Day speech, said that no government doctor would retire till March 31, 2027, as also announced the release of salary arrears of class IV employees amounting to Rs 20,000 by the month-end.

Sukhu also announced a Rs 1000 hike in the incentives of ASHA workers and revised remuneration of Rs 25,000 to staff nurses, pharmacists, operation theatre assistants and laboratory technicians under the National Health Mission (NHM).

Sukhu, who presided over the state-level Independence Day function at Barsar in the Hamirpur district on Saturday, reiterated his resolve to make Himachal Pradesh one of the richest states by 2032, listed the initiatives taken to improve the financial position, and said that the economy was back on track in spite of financial crunch and discontinuation of the Revenue Deficit Grant (RDG) by the Centre.


He hoisted the national flag and took the salute of the march past by contingents of the state police, IRB Dhaulakuan and Pandoh, women police, home guards and traffic police and also witnessed the colourful cultural programme, a statement issued here said.

The chief minister said that Class I and Class II pensioners and family pensioners would be paid 15 per cent of their arrears during the month of August, incurring an expenditure of Rs 281 crore.

He also announced a hike in the monthly incentive of 9,000 ASHA workers from Rs 5,800 to Rs 6,800 with effect from April 1, 2026 and revised remuneration of Rs 25,000 per month for outsourced staff nurses, pharmacists, operation theatre assistants and laboratory technicians engaged under the NHM and Rs 18,000 per month for data entry operators.

The Congress government restored the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for NPS employees and is sensitive to the concerns of multi-task workers and outsourced employees, he said.

The chief minister said that the recent National Family Health Survey report released by the Union government has highlighted the improvement in the health of women and children in Himachal Pradesh, and for further improvement, the state government has decided to introduce the Indira Gandhi Matri Shishu Sankalp Yojana to provide more nutritious food to mothers and children and in the pilot phase, commencing on October 2, 21 blocks across the state would be covered.

The existing provision of rice, pulses, oil, biscuits, panjiri and milk powder would be improved by providing more nutritious and hygienically packaged premix food, and milk or eggs thrice a week, he added.

Making a special appeal to the Gen Z of Himachal Pradesh, Sukhu said that the top priority of the government was to provide merit-based employment opportunities in a transparent manner and it has provided employment to thousands of young people in the government sector. He also claimed that not a single paper leak was witnessed in any recruitment.

The chief minister said that with a vision to create an environment where a family can earn Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 per month while staying in their village, the government has taken several new initiatives in agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and fishery sectors to boost self-employment.

The state's first state-of-the-art milk processing plant with a capacity of 1.5 lakh litres per day is being established at Daghwar in the Kangra district at a cost of around Rs 250 crore, he said. He announced that Rs 150 crore would be spent on strengthening milk processing infrastructure in Solan, Una, Sirmaur, Shimla, Mandi, Kullu and Hamirpur districts.

Sukhu said that the dedicated horticulture policy of the government is expected to generate employment opportunities for about 82,200 persons and 'Apna Parivar Sukhi Parivar' scheme to be launched from October 2 would put in place a mechanism to improve their economic condition over the next two years.

Sukhu said that a comprehensive scheme worth Rs 2,000 crore is being implemented to ensure the availability of clean water across all Assembly constituencies.