Shimla: Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Wednesday transferred Rs 52.50 lakh through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to 1,500 fishermen under the ‘Mukhya Mantri Machhuara Samman Nidhi Yojana’.The beneficiaries received Rs 3,500 each.During his visit to the Jhandutta assembly constituency of Bilaspur district, the CM also announced the waiver of the five-fold penalty imposed on fishermen societies and increased the subsidy for establishing cold storage units from 70% to 80%.He further announced Rs 50 lakh for providing life jackets to fishermen across the state and Rs 10 lakh for creating landing facilities for fishermen.Sukhu also announced Rs 10 lakh each for completing the construction of 10 link roads in the Jhandutta assembly constituency. Further, he announced that BCA and BBA classes would start at Govt Degree College Jhandutta.Addressing a public meeting at Dhrarsanni, the CM said that listening to the voice of the common man and formulating policies accordingly was the true essence of ‘Vyavastha Parivartan’.Sukhu said that having risen from an ordinary family to the position of chief minister, he understood the hardships faced by common people. Keeping in view the hard work and contribution of fishermen, the state govt has taken several important decisions for their welfare, he added.The CM said that royalty on fish caught from reservoirs had been reduced from 15% to 7.50% during the financial year 2025-26 and it was further reduced to just 1%.He also said the state govt was providing a 70% subsidy on the purchase of refrigerated vehicles to facilitate the transportation of fish to major markets such as Delhi and Chandigarh.CM justifies cess on fuel (Box)Talking to mediapersons during his visit to Bilaspur, CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu defended the state govt’s decision to levy cess on petrol and high-speed diesel, saying the levy was introduced to support widows and fund their children’s education.Comparing fuel prices with neighbouring Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand, Sukhu said diesel and petrol were earlier about Rs 1.25 per litre costlier in these states than in Himachal.Sukhu said the state govt decided to impose a cess to bridge the price gap while keeping fuel rates in Himachal lower than in neighbouring states. “Even now, our petrol and diesel rates are 60 to 70 paise lower than those in Uttarakhand, Punjab and Haryana,” he said.On comparison with Chandigarh, the CM also said that, being a Union Territory, Chandigarh has a different revenue structure and cannot be directly compared with Himachal.
