Whether it is because of an administrative requirement to strengthen the public delivery system or a sheer nexus between the Government officials concerned and their political masters, particularly the ruling class, some of the Government officials keep on occupying plump postings in the plains of the Kumaon region and other parts of Uttrakhand for more than half a decade.
None other than the senior most official of the Kumaon division, Commissioner of Kumaon A S Nayal has been working here for many years. In fact, before he joined as Commissioner of the Kumaon division in Naintal last year he had worked as District Magistrate of neighbouring Champawat district and later as Director of the Uttarakhand Administrative Academy, Nainital for more than six years.
Similarly, Deepak Rawat, the present District Magistrate of Nainital, has also been working in different capacities such as Joint Magistrate, Nainital, as CDO, Nainital and later as MD of the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMAVN)-all headquartered in Nainital, for over six years i.e. since 2008-2009.
Similarly, Dhiraj Singh Garbyal, Director, Uttarakhand Mandi department in Udham Singh Nagar, who is also working now as MD, KMVN, Nainital, has also been working in Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar districts in different capacities for over six years.
The list of such officials is long not just in the Kumaon division but in the Garhwal division too. But the fact is that apart from the two districts of the Kumaon division, including Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar, and Haridwar and Dehradun in the Garhwal region, there are nine more districts covering the large part of the hill State which need Government's attention far more than those districts which are located in the plains of Uttarakhand.
But despite hue and cry raised over the officials staying put in the plains for a long period, these officials continue to get postings in places of their choice.
What is worrisome is that the Harish Rawat Government has not been able to do anything other than mouthing platitudes on the crucial issue of improving the work culture and framing a proper transfer policy. In the absence of a uniform transfer policy, it seems the public servants are not just managing postings in the plains and perpetuating them but also are refusing to join duties even if they are transferred outside their comfort zones.
With such a culture continuing and the successive State Governments failing to arrest and reverse the trend by way of a well-defined transfer policy, the migration from the hills continue to the detriment of the State’s long-term developmental interests.