Saviour of the heritage

Written by Ashwani Sharma

Shimla | April 6, 2009 01:18 AM IST

4 min read

Col Dhani Ram Shandil (retd) first jumped into politics in 1999 Lok Sabha elections as BJP- Himachal Vikas Congress combine candidate and wrested Shimla (reserve) seat,defeating a former minister Gangu Ram Musafir. After the alliance broke in 2004,Shandil joined the Congress and defeated BJPs HN Kashyap,a former state services officer,by a record margin of 1.08 lakh votes. He is back to give the ruling BJP a run for its money.

PROMISES GALORE: Promised to work for protecting the rights of the farmers and fruit growers,and help them to get remunerative price for the produce,build roads and market infrastructure,help and support the government to create job avenues for the youths,extension of industrial package up to 2013,declaring Shimla-Kalka railway line a heritage track,expansion of Shimla airport to give a fillip to the states tourism,start work on multi-crore Renuka dam project,connecting Paonta Sahib with a railway line and Chandigarh and Baddi-Barotiwala with a broad-gauge railway line,retaining and modernising Government of India printing press in Shimla,start production at the Central Research Institute (CRI),Kasauli and opening a passport office in Shimla.

WHAT HE DELIVERED: The Baddi-Chandigarh railway line has been sanctioned and the Shimla-Kalka railway line has been declared as heritage by the UNESCO,with the efforts of the Union Minister of State for External Affairs,Anand Sharma,the passport office was opened in Shimla,he also raised the issue of Paonta-Dehradun broad-gauge railway line with the Union Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and also in the Parliament,the printing press will be modernised,the 104-year-old Central Research Institute at Kasauli has also resumed work.

WHERE HE FAILED: The industrial package - tax holidays for special category states,including Himachal Pradesh was announced by the NDA government in 2003. The UPA government cut down the package limit from 2013 to 2007. Later,it was raised to 2010 instead of the 2013,lack of roads and market infrastructure is still a problem for the apple growers,despite new openings in industrial and power sectors,there are a large number of people still unemployed,the issue of one-rank,one pension and exemption of Himachal from population criterion for recruitment to Army and para-military forces has not been accepted by the Centre,little contributions were made towards the development of tourism and utilisation of MPLAD funds have been slow.

Attendance in Lok Sabha: Col Shandil participated in 32 debates and raised 122 questions. His attendance was an impressive 94 per cent.

NUMBER OF QUESTIONS ASKED OR ISSUES TAKEN UP: He raised the key issue of revival of old Hindustan-Tibet Road because of its strategic importance,inclusion of apple in crop insurance scheme and computerisation of railway reservation counters at Dharampur and Solan.

Opinion:For many Col Shandil is as good a leader as the earlier MP Late KD Sultanpuri,who owed most of his six electoral victories here to former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and the Congress party. He is yet to prove his standing as a leader and one who can win the election on the basis of his work. Between 1999 and 2004,he was with the BJP-HVC and in 2004,he chose to embrace Congress. This election will be a real test for him, says Radhe Shyam,a cash crop producer at Dharampur.Votes secured by top two candidates in 2004
Col Shandil (retd) (Cong): 3.11 lakh
HN Kashyap (BJP): 2.02 lakh
Total votes Polled: 5.28 lakh

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chandigarh lok sabha election