Austerity drive during Himachal assembly’s winter session

DHARAMSALA - The Himachal Pradesh government has proposed a huge cut in “wasteful expenditure” during the six-sitting winter session of the state assembly starting Monday in this hill station.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal told IANS the government is cautious this time about the expenditure during the assembly session.

“We have issued clear-cut guidelines to all the departments to reduce wasteful expenditure as much as possible. This is just an initiative to save the public money. If we succeed, it would be a trendsetter for the future governments,” he said.

“Our aim is to reduce the total expenditure by up to 50 percent,” he added.

The first winter session outside the state capital was held in 2005. Since then Dharamsala, 250 km from Shimla, has been hosting the winter session annually.

According to Dhumal, the money saved during the session would be used for welfare schemes.

A senior official associated with the affairs of the session said that the chief minister’s office has cut outlay on stay, food and travel of officials from Shimla.

“The officials have been told to travel to Dharamsala from Shimla only on the day when question regarding their department is listed in the assembly. Otherwise, they have been told to stay back,” said the official, declining to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Even the ministers and legislators have been brought under the austerity drive.

“The government has even brought the ministers, legislators and journalists under the economy drive. The ministers have been told not to bring additional staff with them during their week-long stay. Their families will not be entertained at government expenditure,” the official said.

The travel and stay expenditure of journalists has also been curtailed, he said.

It is learnt that during the winter session here, the government on an average spends Rs.1 crore. However, this expenditure is almost double than the expenditure incurred during other sessions held in Shimla.

Congress opposition leader Vidya Stokes said: “This time the government emphasis is on cutting wasteful expenditure. It’s a good initiative, we support the government.”

A senior state leader said that the decision of successive governments to hold winter session outside the state capital has now become more their political compulsion.

“What is the need for holding the session away from the state capital. The entire government machinery is moved to Dharamsala just for a few days. This is just a burden on exchequer. But it is now more a political compulsion,” he said.

“The political parties - both ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and the opposition Congress - should unanimously decide to discontinue this practice otherwise this small hill state will never come out of the red,” he said.

The economy of the hill is highly dependent only on three sources: hydroelectric power, tourism and agriculture.