70 National Highways: Opposition stages walkout from Assembly

Shimla, Feb 7: Opposition Congress on Thursday staged a walkout from the Assembly alleging that the state government failed to get Rs 65,000 crore for the 70 national highways sanctioned from the Centre despite tall claims.

During the question hour after the walkout, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur blamed the previous Congress rule for deliberately stalling the process for the national highways for more than one year before the 2017 Assembly polls.

"The Himachal Congress failed to give advantage to the BJP for not giving in-principle approval to 70 national highways," the CM said.

Describing the Congress walkout unfortunate, the CM said the Congress was looking for an opportunity to stage a walkout.

"The Congress wants to make hue and cry in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls. Development is a collective programme and nobody should create hurdles in it,” he said.

Blaming the previous Congress government, Mr Thakur said that they had started the process for just eight detailed project reports (DPRs) of the highways in over one year, whereas, our government has started the process of outsourcing for 50 DPRs.

“It takes time for notification of the highways after in-principle approval as there are so many procedures involved,” the Chief Minister said.

The Congress staged the walkout from the house amidst CM's address.

However, all member joined the proceeding after the question hour.