BJP leader asks Himachal govt to come clean on employees’ allegations

Dharamsala, August 24

Former minister Rakesh Singh Pathania today said the Congress government should come clean on the allegations levelled by Secretariat Employee’s Union president Sanjeev Sharma. The union had alleged that the government was squandering state’s resources on acquiring luxuries for ministers and political appointees, while it was withdrawing the facilities of employees and other sections of society, Pathania told the media here.

The most serious allegation, Pathania said, the secretariat employees had made was that Rs 142 crore given by the Centre under disaster management to the state had lapsed. The state government had been alleging that the Centre did not help it during the last year’s natural disaster, but the fact that the budget given by the Union government had lapsed as the state failed to utilise it, he said.

The Congress government had come to power with a promise of providing 1 lakh jobs to youth in the first year, but there was no roadmap to provide employment to the youth, he said, adding that the employees were already on roads and other sections of society would follow suit.

Pathania further alleged that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had announced to make Kangra the tourist capital of the state, but in the past two years no project had been launched in the district or any other part of the state, but for the Centrally aided projects.

The former minister said the Congress government had withdrawn all facilities that were given by the previous BJP regime to the people of state, including Himcare scheme, 125 units of free power and free drinking water in rural areas in the name of economic crises in the state.

No benefit as DA or arrears have been given to the government employees, he added. “Besides, the state has closed down 900 institutes opened by the previous government. Though the facilities to common people and employees are being withdrawn, the government is spending crores on providing extravagant facilities to its political appointees. The BJP would take to streets soon over the issues concerning the common man and employees,” he said.