Himachal: Congress MLA miffed over transfer of officers without his consent - Hindustan Times
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Himachal: Congress MLA miffed over transfer of officers without his consent

By, Shimla
Mar 13, 2023 10:26 PM IST

“As discussed, I would like to apprise you that parliamentary elections are due next year, henceforth, you may kindly take serious note of my request for the present government,” Himachal Congress MLA Ravi Thakur wrote to Pratibha Singh.

Strap: Voices of dissent emerge within Congress, Lahaul-Spiti MLA shoots off letter to Pratibha Singh

Even as the opposition BJP has been cornering Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Himachal government for denotifying offices and institutions, now voices of dissent have started emerging within the Congress party. Lahual-Spiti MLA Ravi Thakur, who allegedly is unhappy over being ignored by the government, shot off a letter to the state party chief Pratibha Singh over transfer of officers without his consent. (ANI Photo)
Even as the opposition BJP has been cornering Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Himachal government for denotifying offices and institutions, now voices of dissent have started emerging within the Congress party. Lahual-Spiti MLA Ravi Thakur, who allegedly is unhappy over being ignored by the government, shot off a letter to the state party chief Pratibha Singh over transfer of officers without his consent. (ANI Photo)

Even as the opposition BJP has been cornering Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government for denotifying offices and institutions, now voices of dissent have started emerging within the Congress party.

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Lahual-Spiti MLA Ravi Thakur, who allegedly is unhappy over being ignored by the government, shot off a letter to the state party chief Pratibha Singh over transfer of officers without his consent.

“As discussed, I would like to apprise you that parliamentary elections are due next year, henceforth, you may kindly take serious note of my request for the present government,” Thakur wrote to Pratibha Singh.

He pointed out that after the formation of the government, all three sub-divisional magistrates, block development officer, tehsildar, naib-tehsildar and divisional forest officer in his constituency were removed but no officers were appointed in their place. He said people had taken up the matter with the chief minister to fill up the posts.

He also wrote that Congress won hands down in Lahaul-Spiti Zila Parishad during the BJP regime and the party also got a comfortable lead in the parliamentary byelections.

Thakur urged Pratibha to distribute MPLAD funds in Lahaul-Spiti at par with other assembly segments and also requested to provide an ambulance for the Mayar Nala area.

People close to the Lahaul-Spiti MLA said that Thakur was forced to write the letter as he was not being heard in the government. They said Thakur had taken up the issue of transfer of officers without his consent several times with chief minister Sukhvinder Sukhu.

However, till now only the post of DFO has been filled while the posts of SDM, BDO, tehsildar, and naib tehsildar are still lying vacant.

As per rules for tribal areas, no officer or employee can be transferred from the such area until a reliever joins. However, norms were not followed in the transfers of officers from Lahaul-Spiti and no proper reason for their transfers was assigned.

This has led to resentment among the people of the district against the MLA.

On the call of the Indian National Congress, the Himachal Pradesh Congress Party today marched under the ‘Chalo Raj Bhavan’ campaign to protest against the investment of the country’s basic enterprises in the Adani Group by the BJP government at the Centre. A memorandum was submitted to the President through governor Shiv Pratap Shukla under the leadership of Pratibha Singh. Only four legislators, Rampur MLA Nand Lal, Shimla MLA Haraish Janartha, Renuka MLA Vinay Kumar and Theogh MLA Kuldeep Singh Rathore accompanied her to Raj Bhavan along with Lahaul and Spiti MLA Ravi Thakur. Pratibha described Thakur’s displeasure as an internal matter of the party, while Thakur candidly told the reporter that the chief minister was unaware of the rules of tribal regions

“I met the chief minister four times and talked about filling the vacant posts. Many times, the chief minister’s call was also received, but in spite of this, it did not work. He said that even today many important posts at the grass-roots level are lying vacant in Lahaul and Spiti,” he said.

Thakur said that all three posts of SDM, BDO and DFO are lying vacant in Lahaul-Spiti. In such a situation, people are facing problems. He said that there is a provision for the tribal district that until a new officer joins the post, the old officer is not relieved. He has requested the CM to fill the vacant posts as soon as possible so that people do not face any problems.

“Virbhadra Singh was a six-time chief minister, Sukhvinder has become the chief minister for the first time and he never was a minister. He directly became the CM. May be it will take time for him to come in governance. This is called teething problem. I have already told Pratibha Singh to intervene to fill the posts in Lahaul-Spiti. I met the CM thrice and four times he himself called me and has asked for name of posts and they will be filled but they have not been filled so far. Yesterday he said orders have been passed but nothing has been done so far. Nobody has joined on ground. But there is a positivity in him,” said Ravi Thakur

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Gaurav Bisht heads Hindustan Times’ Himachal bureau. He covers politics in the hill state and other issues concerning the masses.

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