Shimla, Sept. 2 -- A total of 2,035 government institutions were denotified up to July 31, 2025, while 362 institutions have been opened since the Congress government came to power in Himachal Pradesh, said chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu in the Himachal Pradesh assembly in response to questions raised by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators, including former CM and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Jai Ram Thakur, during Question Hour. Sukhu said that of the institutions that were denotified, 123 have subsequently been reopened at the same locations. "The decision was taken to denotify the institutes that lacked adequate staff or necessary infrastructure. Even in the future rationalisation and merger will continue," the CM said. Sukhu, while accusing the BJP of distributing "freebies" for political gain, said, "The BJP opened 750 schools that lacked both students and teachers. These institutions were closed following consultations with the education minister and officials. Similarly, facilities were opened in the health sector without any doctors or support staff." The LoP questioned the rationale behind shutting institutions that were later reopened. He asked why such institutions were closed in the first place if they were subsequently found to be necessary. Sukhu said that a new policy would be formulated for multi-task workers employed across various departments in Himachal. The CM's reply came in response to a question raised by Congress MLA RS Bali, who pointed out that several departments employ multi-task workers instead of merely increasing their pay by Rs.500 or Rs.1,000. Sukhu said that necessary guidelines regarding Swine Flu have been issued to all health institutions. "The government regularly issues directives to health institutions concerning Swine Flu and other types of influenza and also conducts research on the matter. Regarding the reported death due to Swine Flu at IGMC, the patient had been transferred there from AIIMS Bilaspur," Sukhu said. The 'Mukhyamantri Apna Parivar Sukhi Parivar Yojana' will be launched in the urban areas of Himachal. The urban development minister Vikramaditya Singh said this while responding to a question raised by Congress MLA Sanjay Rattan during Zero Hour. Rattan had pointed out that while the annual income limit for BPL and the yojana has been raised to Rs.75,000 in rural areas, the limit remains at Rs.26,500 in urban areas. He argued that this limit should be increased to Rs.1 lakh so that more urban residents could benefit from the scheme. Sukhu said that the state government would consider increasing the number of MBBS seats for the OBC category after the census data is released. This was stated in response to the question of reservation for OBC by BJP MLA Sukhram Chaudhary who pointed out that, out of 610 seats, only 14 seats are reserved for OBC category which is a "crude joke" as the OBC population in the state has now reached 24%....