The State Government has failed in financial management to such an extent that employees are not being paid salaries on time and most developmental works in Uttarakhand have come to a standstill. The Congress will raise this and various other issues during the budget session of the Vidhan Sabha slated to be held at Bharadisain (Gairsain) during March. The leader of opposition Indira Hridayesh said this while addressing the media after Congress legislature party meet held at her residence here on Tuesday.
She said that the State Government has been in office for about one year now but during this time, most developmental works and other tasks of the Government have come to a standstill. She said, “The condition of financial management is worse. Government teachers in various schools and colleges have not received their salaries- some have not been paid for about a year now. Contractors who undertook various Government tasks too have not received payment for about one year now. The Bharatiya Janata Party had promised that the dues of sugar cane farmers would be cleared soon after government formation but this has not been done yet. This has led to a decrease in the sowing of sugar cane. During the parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that if the BJP was elected in Uttarakhand, the resulting ‘double engine’ government would ensure that financial problems are not faced but this is not the case.” On the issue of state capital, Hridayesh said that the state government was not saying anything concrete on Gairsain. “The state government has done little on the assembly building at Gairsain which was constructed during the term of the Congress Government. Even the door and window fixtures in the room of the leader of opposition have not been fixed so far. The Government makes a show of holding the assembly session in Gairsain but it has done nothing to improve the condition of the assembly building there,” she said. Farmers, traders and other professionals are still suffering the effects of demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST), she added. Regarding the probe into the national highway 74 scam, Hridayesh said that the Congress maintains its stance of questioning why the State Government had not gone for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the scam.
The Pradesh Congress Committee president Pritam Singh said that in the ClP meeting it had been decided that the Congress would gherao the government on various issues during the budget session at Gairsain. He said, “Following the 2013 disaster, the then UPA Government at the centre had announced Rs 8,000 crore package for Uttarakhand. So far about Rs 2,000 crore has been spent. We demand that the prime minister ensure that the remaining amount of the package announced by the UPA Government be released immediately for Uttarakhand.” Referring to the suicide of transporter Prakash Pandey, he recalled that chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had stressed that the government would not provide any assistance to the family of anyone committing suicide. At a time when people are still suffering the effects of demonetisation and GST implementation with even the farmers in dire straits, the state government should at least take measures to prevent people from resorting to such extreme steps. He further alleged that the state government had stalled all development works in the state. The BJP is focusing mainly on collection of Aajivan Sahyog Nidhi and the Congress has full information about officials being pressurised and other sources being made to donate to the party funds, added the PCC president.
The former PCC president Kishore Upadhyay opined that the law and order situation in the state had collapsed. The state government has spend only about 45 per cent of the budget at a time when the financial year is about to end. The State Government has no plan for tackling the effects of drought faced in the state this season, he added.
