Hamirpur (HP), Feb 13 (PTI) Senior BJP leader Prem Kumar Dhumal on Monday hit out at the Congress-led Himachal Pradesh government over 'growing expenses' and 'wasteful expenditure' under its regime.

Addressing party workers here, he said expenses were rising since the Congress was voted to power in the hill state, whereas the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had taken many measures to reduce the expenses when it was in power in Himachal Pradesh.

Listing out the initiatives under the previous BJP regime, Dhumal said he along with his colleagues, when he was the chief minister, had started paying 10 per cent of house rent.

Restrictions were imposed on cabinet ministers and the chief minister from travelling in vehicles outside the state and everyone was ordered to travel by train, he said.

Prior to that, the practice of SPs (superintendents of police) and DCs (district collectors) standing at the entry point of districts to welcome the chief minister was also stopped, he added.

Dhumal said priority was given to carrying out national and regional programmes in villages instead of cities.

He added that his office had also started using files made of recycled paper.

'Plastic was banned and used plastic waste was procured through panchayats and municipal bodies, and given to PWD department for recycling which was further cut into small pieces and mixed with bitumen to construct roads,' he said.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without any modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)