Now out in the cold in Himachal: Former BJP govt’s last-minute post spree

But the BJP government’s development push failed to give it the required momentum and the party was voted out of power. Now, the Congress-led government’s decision to shut down 500 such institutions has sparked a political battle and provided the Opposition party with the ammunition it can use to try and corner the ruling party.

On Sunday, the party submitted a memorandum to Governor RV Arlekar, requesting him to intervene and stop the “anti-democratic’ move of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. The ruling party has defended its decision, saying the departments had only been established for electoral purposes.

In one of its first moves, the Sukhu government denotified health institutions created or upgraded after April 1. The institutions included primary and community health centres, besides local hospitals. Besides shutting down tehsils, the government has also denotified 15 divisions of the electricity department, leading to the closure of more than 30 offices. The government has also announced the de-notification of 15 circles and sub-divisions of the electricity department in regions such as Mandi, Seraj, Bhattiyar, and Jawalamukhi.

More than 70 revenue offices have been denotified and a forest department has also been shut down by the newly formed Congress government. Nine Kanungo (revenue) circles in Mandi, Una and Sirmaur, too, have been abolished.

The Congress government has, so far, not taken any action on the 400-plus educational institutions, including degree colleges, set up by the previous government.

The BJP has termed the decisions “vendetta politics”. Jairam Thakur, now the Leader of the Opposition, has threatened a statewide agitation if the decisions are not reversed.

“The government has shut down more than 574 offices in the state. Work had also begun in those offices following their opening. But as soon as Congress comes into power, they are shut down. This shows they are working against the sentiment of the people. If the institutions are not restored in public welfare, the party will have to go on the streets,” the ruling party said in a statement.

In response, Sukhu has said, “The previous BJP government had opened over 590 institutions during the fag end of its tenure without making any budgetary provision and without recruitment of required staff with a sole objective to woo the voters in the state. It was strange that the SDM (sub-divisional magistrate) offices were opened and no SDM was posted in these offices.”

The CM further said that in most of these institutions staff from adjoining institutions were temporarily deployed, hampering the functioning of an already existing institution. The Congress has alleged that health institutions opened in this period were devoid of manpower and machinery and were simply an “eyewash to fool the people”.

The party has said that it will conduct a review and only those found viable will be allowed to function after due budgetary allocation.