DW BUREAU / Shimla

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Thursday accused the previous BJP government of plundering the state's coffers under HIMCARE and alleged that Rs 350 crore was squandered on private hospitals, triggering a protest by saffron party MLAs. Replying during a debate on the Motion of Thanks on the Governor's Address, the chief minister also said 9.5 lakh people went out of state for treatment, causing a loss of Rs 1,000 crore to the state exchequer.

Sukhu claimed his government cleared liabilities of Rs 190 crore and spent Rs 306 crore on the Mukhya Mantri Himachal Health Care Scheme (HIMCARE) during the past two years.

Enraged by the charge, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur interrupted Sukhu and alleged that wrong data was being presented and dared the government to institute an inquiry into the expenditure under HIMCARE.

"The Congress government is in power for the past two years and the chief minister is now saying that it is not able to pay for HIMCARE and presenting wrong statistics," he said and asked Sukhu to order a probe and take action against those found guilty.

The former chief minister also dared Sukhu to tell the House how many people had got treatment under HIMCARE, alleging that patients were dying without medicines.

(editor@dailyworld.in)