Dharamshala/Shimla (HP), Dec 3 (PTI) The Himachal Pradesh government will issue concessional passes to 28 categories of people to travel on state buses, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu said on Wednesday.
The entire process is slated to be completed by January 1, 2026, he said.
Responding to a question by MLA DS Thakur, Sukhu said his government has linked the Him Bus Card to the Him Parivar to prevent misuse.
He said 3,000 persons with disability have already obtained the card, which will be valid for five years, after which it can be renewed.
Each card, which aims to restrict the concession travel to state residents, will cost Rs 236, he said.
Earlier, in response to the original question, Industry Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan said 17,000 people had received Him bus cards.
He said the government decided to introduce the card because school children and college students with bus passes were not using them on their routes but elsewhere, resulting in losses to the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC).
Chauhan said that earlier these cards could only be issued at bus stands, but now one can have them at Lok Mitra centres as well.
Responding to a question of MLA Bikram Thakur on natural farming, Sukhu said Himachal Pradesh was the first state in the country to procure natural products from farmers at a minimum support price.
He said the goal of promoting natural farming is to reconnect farmers with agriculture, and in the future, the government will engage more farmers in natural farming, as there is a high demand for naturally grown corn flour in the state.
Earlier, Agriculture Minister Chandra Kumar said a modern testing lab is being set up in Hamirpur for testing agricultural and food products. He said that the department collected 57 samples of naturally grown wheat for testing, of which only six failed.
Sukhu also said that only the name of the contract policy has changed, not the service conditions, and employees deployed as trainees through the Himachal Pradesh State Public Service Commission and the State Selection Commission will be regularised after two years.
Responding to a joint question from MLAs Sudhir Sharma, Randhir Sharma, and Vipin Singh Parmar, the chief minister said that the contract policy was renamed to job trainee only after orders from the high court and the Supreme Court. PTI COR BPL VN VN
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