Shimla, March 12 — The Himachal Pradesh government is providing pensions under the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) to 1.17 lakh of its 1.86 lakh regular employees who opted out of the New Pension Scheme (NPS), Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu informed the Vidhan Sabha.
Responding to a question from Jaswan-Pragpur MLA Bikram Singh during Question Hour, Sukhu said all government departments had implemented OPS, and there were no pending pension liabilities for retired employees. Since its restoration, 12,806 employees had retired under the scheme.
On healthcare spending, Sukhu stated that ₹153.65 crore had been spent on procuring medicines and medical equipment in the current financial year till February 20. Of this, ₹80.37 crore was allocated to eight medical colleges, including those in Shimla, Tanda, Chamba, Hamirpur, Nahan, Nerchowk (Mandi), and the Super Specialty Hospital at Chamiyana. The remaining ₹73.27 crore was used for health institutions across the state.
Addressing Dharamsala MLA Sudhir Sharma’s question on the Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Sukhu said the Centre had allocated ₹260.02 crore for the project. The government was reviewing the ₹30.03 crore net present value assessed by the Divisional Forest Officer for the transfer of 57 hectares, as it appeared excessive.
Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan, in response to Indora MLA Malendra Rajan, reported 1,531 illegal mining cases in 2024-25, with ₹77.96 lakh recovered in penalties. Special monitoring teams were deployed along inter-state borders, and a mining ban was in place from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.
On cryptocurrency scams, Sukhu told Shahpur MLA Kewal Singh Pathania that 13 cases involving ₹37 crore had been registered over the past two years. Authorities had arrested 80 individuals, and 73 cases remained pending in court.
