Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], September 2 : A total of 2,035 government institutions were denotified in Himachal Pradesh up to July 31, 2025, while 362 new institutions have been opened since the Congress government came to power, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said in the Assembly on Tuesday.
Sukhu was responding to questions raised by BJP legislators, including Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, during Question Hour on the eighth day of the 10-day Monsoon Session of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly.
The Chief Minister informed the House that 123 of the denotified institutions have subsequently been reopened at their original locations.
CM Sukhu said institutions were denotified where adequate staff or necessary infrastructure was not available. He added that the process of rationalisation and merger of institutions would continue in the future wherever required.
The Chief Minister also hit out at the previous BJP government, alleging that around 750 schools were opened for political gains despite lacking adequate students and teachers. He said these institutions were closed after consultations with the Education Minister and departmental officials.
Similarly, he alleged that health facilities had been opened without adequate doctors and support staff.
"In contrast, the institutions we have established are located where the public actually needed them," Sukhu said, adding that the government would continue to open need-based institutions in the future.
The Chief Minister maintained that institutions were being closed only when they were found to be unnecessary, while those required by people were being established.
Jai Ram Thakur questioned the rationale behind closing institutions that were subsequently reopened. He asked why the government had shut them down in the first place if they were later found to be necessary.
Thakur alleged that the denotification exercise was driven by a political vendetta and accused the government of reopening institutions later to take credit.
Other BJP members also alleged that the denotification decisions were politically motivated and questioned why facilities had been opened in some areas while similar institutions in their constituencies were closed.
BJP MLA Randhir Sharma also termed the denotification process politically motivated.
BJP MLA Hans Raj raised the issue of institutions in the Churah constituency of Chamba, saying the difficult geographical terrain of the area warranted special consideration.
Responding to the issue, Sukhu said the government was paying special attention to Chamba and had allocated Rs 200 crore for completion of the Chamba Medical College, besides taking steps to strengthen its faculty.
Sukhu reiterated that decisions on opening, closing, rationalising or merging institutions were being taken based on public need, availability of staff and infrastructure, and the quality of services, rather than political considerations.