Congress Leader Jagdish Reddy Questions BJP’s Claims of Rs 25,000 Crore Development in Seraj Mandi.
Shimla:
Senior Congress leader Jagdish Reddy has raised serious questions over the former BJP government’s development claims in the Seraj constituency of Mandi district, accusing ex-Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur of financial mismanagement and favoritism toward select contractors.
Reddy questioned the claim that Rs 25,000 crore was spent on development in Seraj, highlighting that the area has only about 26,000 ration card-linked families. “Does this mean one crore rupees was spent per family?” he asked sarcastically.
He alleged that the BJP government took massive loans from the Asian Development Bank to construct nearly 1,000 buildings across Himachal Pradesh, many of which remain unused. According to Reddy, about 100 such unutilized buildings exist in Seraj alone, constructed at a cost of crores without any functional purpose.
He pointed to rest houses built in areas like Janjehli, Thunag, Bagsyad, Chhatri, and Shakwari that have reportedly generated no revenue. The Congress government, he said, has increased rent on these rest houses to avoid revenue losses and is also planning to hand over idle buildings to unemployed youth for business use, aiming to create employment and boost income.
Reddy also criticized the leasing of a tourism structure in Kataru, Seraj, to a private company—Club Mahindra—for 20 years, stating that entry for locals is now prohibited and the area is under constant CCTV surveillance.
Further, he cited the Rs 72 crore civil hospital building where only five rooms are functional and patient footfall remains minimal. Reddy accused the BJP of favoring a select few and dragging the state into a debt trap, while claiming that the current Sukhu-led Congress government is focused on equitable development and systemic change.
