Dharamsala secretariat wears deserted look

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, July 26

The Dharamsala mini secretariat that houses the office of the Chief Minister and ministers from Kangra district is wearing a deserted look. Since the present government has taken over in the state none of the ministers, even those from Kangra district, has sat in the mini secretariat to listen to the grievances of the people of area.

At present, there are three ministers from Kangra district including Minister for Health, Vipin Parmar, who represents Sullah assembly constituency, Minister of Town and Country Planning Sarween Chaudhary, who represents Shahpur assembly constituency, and Bikram Thakur Minister for Industries who represents Jaswan Pragpur assembly constituency. None of the ministers has sat in the mini secretariat located at Dharamsala even for a single day ever since the present government has taken over.

The fourth minister from the district, Kishan Kapoor has now been elected as MP from Kangra parliamentary constituency. Ironically, it was the BJP that used to accuse the Congress for being biased against lower areas of the state, especially Kangra district. It was during the BJP government from 2007 to 2012 that new mini secretariat was built in Dharamsala the district headquarters of Kangra district. The idea was to convert the old mini secretariat into permanent secretariat in which at least one minister was supposed to sit every day to listen to the grievances of the people of lower areas of Himachal. During the last Congress government the ministers used to sit here. However, in the present government no one sits here.

Rajiv Sharma, a resident,, said it was very difficult for the people of remote areas of Himachal to go to Shimla to get their works done. Senior Congress leader GS Bali alleged that the mini secretariat was also the identity of Kangra district. It was unfortunate the present government has totally ignored it