Himachal Pradesh government on Monday withdrew personal security officers attached with all sub-divisional magistrates (SDM) and additional district magistrates.
It has also been decided to reduce the number of vehicles in chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s official fleet in what is said to be a part of austerity measures taken by the state government.
There are total 72 subdivisions in Himachal Pradesh. A few SDMs still had personal security officers, which were assigned to all of them during the assembly elections.
“The move was necessitated after an audit pointed out that excess security needed to be withdrawn. The fiscal condition of the state is not good and the government wants to cut down the wasteful expenditure. The security officers will be inserted back into the force,” said Sukhu, who also holds the home portfolio.
The chief minister has already asked the legislators to only seek personal security officers if there is a security requirement. “I didn’t have any PSO in my security detail when I was the MLA,” said Sukhu, a four-time legislator.
He has also directed the police and general administration department to reduce the number of vehicles in his official fleet.
It has long been a practice in Himachal that local police stations depute patrol vehicles with VIPs within their jurisdiction. This practice has drawn much criticism from the public as police vehicles used for crime reporting and patrolling are engaged in VIP duties. There already is a dearth of vehicles across the police stations in Himachal.
{{/usCountry}}It has long been a practice in Himachal that local police stations depute patrol vehicles with VIPs within their jurisdiction. This practice has drawn much criticism from the public as police vehicles used for crime reporting and patrolling are engaged in VIP duties. There already is a dearth of vehicles across the police stations in Himachal.
{{/usCountry}}”The chief minister was keen to cut down his fleet, so we are doing it,” said Bharat Khera, principal secretary to Sukhu, who also holds the charge of the general administration.
The department has, meanwhile, mooted a proposal to add electric vehicles to the fleet.
In a bid to give a big push to green energy, the Himachal Pradesh transport department has already switched over to electric vehicles. Adopting the ‘Go Green’ approach, the directorate of transport has replaced the official petrol and diesel vehicles with electric ones.