2017, a hectic year for Himachal

Shimla: The Kotkhai rape and murder and custodial death cases kept Himachal Pradesh on the boil in 2017 which also saw intense political activities that culminated in the return of the BJP to power.

The BJP bounced back to power with a majority dethroning the Congress and a new government was in the saddle at the end of the year but without Prem Kumar Dhumal, the chief ministerial face of the party, who suffered a shock defeat from Sujanpur constituency.

Fifty-two-year-old Jai Ram Thakur from Mandi district became the chief minister. Mandi district got a chief minister for the first time in the 65-year electoral history of Himachal Pradesh. The BJP won 44 out of 68 seats against 21 seats bagged by the Congress but the CPI(M) won the Theog seat, making inroads in Shimla district while veteran Congress leader, Vidya Stokes, an eight times MLA whose nomination papers were rejected, called it a day.

Virbhadra Singh, who headed the previous Congress government, remained at loggerheads during the year with state party chief Sukhvinder Singh. The disproportionate assets and the money laundering cases filed against him by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) also kept him engaged.

The state was on the boil following the gangrape and murder of a 16-year-old school girl while violence erupted following the custodial death of an accused Suraj and the case was referred to CBI on the direction of the high court.

The CBI arrested nine police officials including Inspector General of Police Z H Zaidi, Superintendent of Police D W Negi and DSP Manoj Joshi in the custodial death case, sending shock waves across the state and sullying the image of the police.

The Kotkhai case turned out to be a major poll issue. It was a good year for the BJP which also won the Shimla Municipal Corporation for the first time in 31 years and captured the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor. The Congress government took several populist measures to woo the voters but the electorate voted for a change, keeping alive the 32-year-old tradition of replacing the government after every five years.

The state witnessed major calamities and road mishaps in which scores of passengers were killed. The judiciary remained active and investigation of half a dozen cases of crime were transferred to the CBI while the amendment to HP Town and Country Act (Retention Policy) to regularise all illegal constructions on “as is, where is” basis was struck down by the high court.

The National Green Tribunal also came to rescue of Shimla town and banned all constructions in core areas and along the national highways and restricted the height of the buildings in other areas to two storeys and attic. It also directed the government not to regularise illegal constructions .

Himachal Pradesh was declared as first “open defecation free” state in the country while capital Shimla got the ‘smart city’ tag. During the year gone by, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of AIIMS at Bilaspur while the ESI medical college and Chamba medical college were also made functional, raising the total number of government medical colleges to five.