Govt denotifies 73 revenue offices, 180 health institutes

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, December 21

The state government today issued a notification to close down 180 health institutions, 73 revenue offices and one wildlife division that were opened by the previous BJP regime after April 1 this year. The BJP has threatened to launch an agitation and take legal recourse against the Congress government’s decision to shut these institutions.

The Revenue Department issued the notification to denotify one settlement division in Mandi, three tehsils, nine Kanungo circles, 20 sub-tehsils and 41 patwar circles. “We will hold an agitation and approach court against the government decision to close down institutions opened by our government,” said former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur here.

Besides, orders were issued yesterday to denotify 16 circles and divisions of the Public Works Department (PWD), 32 electricity offices—10 power divisions, six operation circles and 16 subdivisions.

Officials said that institutions that the previous BJP government had notified without a provision of budget and staff were being de-notified on the orders of the Congress government led by Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. Uncertainty also prevails over the status of 423 educational institutions, including 26 degree colleges, announced by the BJP government. These include both new educational institutions as well as those upgraded.

“The creation of Mandi settlement division, which was notified on August 26, 2022, has been denotified. The jurisdiction of the Settlement Office, Kangra and Shimla, as it existed earlier, has been restored with immediate effect in public interest,” read the order issued by Principal Secretary (Revenue) Onkar Sharma.

Sharma, who is also Principal Secretary (Forest), issued another order de-notifying a new forest division (wildlife) at Janjehli under the jurisdiction of the Great Himalayan National Park in the Seraj Assembly constituency represented by Jai Ram Thakur. The notification for the creation of this wildlife division was issued on September 22.

The three tehsils, which were upgraded after April 1 and had been denotified, are Udaipur in Lahaul and Spiti, Bharari in Bilaspur and Kishangarh (Kuthar) in Solan district. “While Udaipur tehsil was upgraded on May 7, Kishangarh and Bharari tehsils were upgraded on September 17 and 19 this year,” said a revenue official.