‘You are all incompetent and frauds’: Kangana goes ballistic at Mandi officials

“What is this behaviour? Why are you people putting up this pretence? Why are you holding these meetings when you have no intention of getting any work done? It’s a bloody joke. I cannot even say anything about you in the national media. What am I supposed to tell them about your work ethic? So, we remain silent and swallow the bitter pill. But do you people have no shame? Even now, out of the Rs 11 crore, half the amount — around Rs 5.50 crore — has not been utilised. And some people even walked away with half of that amount (half of Rs 5.50 crore). You should put pressure on them and recover the money. Is that my scope of work? Aren’t you people ashamed? So much negative publicity is happening. So many people are making reels about this. And despite all this, you sit in your offices and laugh?” she said, mimicking how officials laugh. “You don’t even listen to anything I say in my office.”

“Barely Rs 1 crore was spent on developmental works by March-April, out of nearly Rs 11 crore released over two years. We also sent repeated correspondence to the ministry to seek progress on the utilisation of funds. Some people have taken the money, while others have it but haven’t started the work. Signatures have also been obtained on false NOCs,” she said.

She also asked all officials responsible for the delayed works to stand up. “People sitting here act better than me,” she said sarcastically, expressing her frustration over the explanations being offered during the meeting.

“How many of you are there? If you give me your offices for just one day each, I will show you how to get work done in a single day. What kind of people are you? Does the Centre really need to send letters to your offices to make you work out of fear?” Kangana added.

The DISHA meeting was attended by Mandi Deputy Commissioner Apoorv Devgan, BJP MLAs representing assemblies under Mandi district and senior officials from various departments, including Public Works Department (PWD), Jal Shakti, electricity, rural development and other agencies. Around 14 Block Development Officers (BDOs), besides executive engineers and other departmental officials, were also present.

Expressing her strong displeasure at the slow pace of development, Ranaut said officials appeared to be treating meetings as a mere formality. “Similar issues had been discussed in previous meetings, yet little progress was made on the ground. Why are we wasting everyone’s time by holding meetings again and again when the same suggestions keep coming, and there is no action on them? You seem unaffected by all these,” Ranaut said.

The MP directed officials to prepare separate lists of projects by stage of progress and to prepare a time-bound action plan for every pending case. “The status of each project should clearly indicate where it got stuck and which department or authority was responsible for the delay.”

Ranaut also questioned officials about projects being held up in the absence of land acquisition, permissions and no-objection certificates, despite the availability of funds. She stressed that decisions taken during DISHA meetings should not remain confined to official files and that schemes must be taken from “paper to the ground” so people could benefit from them.

Speaking with The Sunday Express, a senior officer present at the meeting acknowledged laxity on officials’ part, but held certain circumstances responsible for affecting development works. “We can’t rule out laxity on officials’ part. But we should also bear in mind that until last October there had been a series of disasters. And this year we had the Code of Conduct implemented for the rural and urban local bodies elections. The MP bashed officials without taking note of their replies and status reports,” the officer added.

The officer said, “Out of Rs 11 crore MPLADS fund for 2025-26, Rs 5.12 crore was sanctioned for 237 works in Mandi district, which is 55 per cent of the sanctioned funds for the Mandi Parliamentary Constituency. Out of 74 completed works in the constituency, 68 are completed in Mandi district, taking completed work in the constituency to 92 per cent.”

The officer stressed, “An expenditure of Rs 3.22 crore out of Rs 5.12 crore sanctioned for Mandi district has been spent. Remaining works are at various stages of progress.”

BJP MLAs present at the meeting included Balh MLA Inder Singh Gandhi, Sarkaghat MLA Dilip Thakur, Darang MLA Puran Singh Thakur, along with other local BJP leaders.

Ranaut is expected to hold a meeting with Kullu administration officials on Monday.