Aiming to usher in an era of change with good governance and graft-free system, the Manohar lal Khattar Government in Haryana is moving away from the tradition in State administration, where senior bureaucrats used to call the shots in policy making and monitoring.
Instead of preferring its senior bureaucrats, the BJP led State Government is giving priority to inducting experts from outside, in almost all key departments. From Finance Department to Transport Department, Haryana Government is roping in experts from private sector in an attempt to ensure progress of major projects and also, to give a boost to economic reforms.
Facing serious economic challenges, the State Government has planned to hire ten transaction advisors from private sector for undertaking projects under public private partnership (PPP) in various sectors including healthcare, education and skill development, tourism, roads & highways, water & sanitation and urban transport.
These transaction advisors to be hired by state Finance Department, would also provide commercial, financial and legal services besides carrying out prefeasibility studies and financial analysis, coordinating with various government departments for undertaking PPP projects. Notably, the State Government had projected its debt liability of Rs 1,40,831 crore for the current fiscal, which is more than what neighbouring state Punjab has estimated for 2016-17.
Apart from hiring ten transaction advisors, the State Government has also decided to rope in private consultants for improving financial performance of Haryana Roadways, which is facing loss of around Rs 500 crore.
The consultants would be entrusted with the task to suggest feasible actions to reduce losses from operations of Haryana Roadways.
Similarly, struggling to achieve the desired targets due to planning weaknesses in sanitation programmes under ‘Swachh Haryana, Swachh Bharat’ campaign, the services of qualified specialists will be sought for setting up of one Project Management Unit (PMU) at Panchkula and 21 Project Implementing Units (PIUs) at district level to implement various sanitation projects in the state.
In its power sector, the State Government has already hired private contractors for the maintenance and operations of 11-KV and low-tension (lT) transmission lines in 23 subdivisions of Haryana. As per the agreement, the private contractors will take care of breakdowns and rectify faults in these divisions. A senior official in Haryana Chief Minister’s office said that the basic aim of roping in private experts is to facilitate the State Government in achieving its set target of ensuring good governance.
About giving priority to external experts instead of bureaucrats, the official said that there is a need of hiring specialists in several sectors and these private experts would assist the government officials in the implementation of various ambitious projects of the State Government.
Other than hiring experts from private sector, Haryana Government is also looking to infuse some fresh blood in its state machinery by inducting 21 high-calibre youngsters into the office of the Chief Minister.
Under the Chief Minister's Good Governance Associates (CMGGA) programme, 21 chosen associates will be posted for a year to 21 districts of Haryana, representing the Chief Minister's office. These CMGGAs will work with the Deputy Commissioners and other district officials to execute various government schemes and bring about transformational changes within their districts.