A day after irrigation and public health minister (IPH) Vidya Stokes expressed displeasure over government’s decision to give extension to a horticulture department official without consulting her, chief minister Virbhadra Singh on Tuesday said a minister should be aware of the affairs their concerned departments.
Speaking to the media on sidelines of a public meeting at Khundian in Jwalamukhi constituency of Kangra district, the chief minister said the government had granted service extensions of one year to all its employees.
"Service of the horticulture director was extended under same provision. Ministers should know about the affairs in their concerned department and avoid giving such statements," Singh said.
Stokes who also holds the portfolio of horticulture minister on Monday had said that she was unaware of extension given to Horticulture director Gurudev Singh and that she had not been consulted before granting service extension to the official.
Meanwhile, addressing the public meeting, Virbhadra Singh commented on hotly debated issue of setting up permanent campus of Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) and assured that the institution would be brought at one place.
"Once the CUHP is set up at Dharamsala many institutions affiliated to it may be come up in other parts including Jwalamukhi and Dehra constituency," Singh said.
"Once the CUHP is set up at Dharamsala many institutions affiliated to it may be come up in other parts including Jwalamukhi and Dehra constituency," Singh said.
Blaming Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur for raking up the controversy on CUHP, Singh said the BJP leader should realize that the parliamentary constituency he represents already has big institutions like NIT and the upcoming AIIMS. He said that political leaders should not misguide the people for personal gains and rather think in larger interest of the state.
Earlier on Tuesday, the chief minister went on a foundation stone laying spree of various development projects worth crores of rupees in Jwalamukhi assembly segment on penultimate day of his 10-day long winter sojourn to Kangra district.