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Long office hours, late-night meets: How Sukhu is keeping Himachal bureaucrats on toes
Sukhu, who is currently camping at government-run hotel Peterhoff, sits late at night in the office and so do the bureaucrats, said an official in the know of chief minister’s routine
Ever since assuming office, Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has been keeping the bureaucrats on their toes.
Unlike his successors, Sukhu has adopted ‘wait-and-watch’ policy to transfer officers. Barring a few appointments in his office and some other departments, the chief minister has yet not ordered a major bureaucratic reshuffle.
Sukhu, who is currently camping at government-run hotel Peterhoff, sits late at night in the office and so do the bureaucrats, said an official in the know of chief minister’s routine.
“One day, he (Sukhu) wanted to consult the law secretary over some matter, so he called him up at 11.30pm to seek his opinion on the file,” said Naresh Chauhan, principal adviser to the chief minister.
Sukhu has been repeatedly reminding his officers during meetings that he means business. “I’m not here to rule, but change the system” is his motto to which he swears by.
Even during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, the chief minister, after walking about 25 kilometres with him, resumed his duty the very next day and visited different parts of the state and convened late-night official meetings on reaching the capital Shimla.
State to get 68 ‘Rajiv Gandhi Day Boarding Schools’: CM
The Himachal Pradesh government will set up 68 ‘Rajiv Gandhi Model Day Boarding Schools’, one in each assembly constituency, chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Saturday.
The schools will have modern technology and equipment to impart quality education, he said. During a meeting with senior education department officials in Shimla, Sukhu said these schools would be constructed on a minimum of 12.5 acres and equipped with cutting-edge technology, according to a statement. The CM directed the officials to identify the land with student-friendly parameters in mind and complete the construction in a time-bound manner.
A sports school and college will also come up in Himachal in the near future while an indoor stadium will be constructed in the Jubbal-Kotkhai assembly segment, Sukhu added. Speaking on the issue of employee shortage, Sukhu advocated for the rationalisation of staff and said the state government would initiate the process to fill vacancies in teaching and non-teaching cadres.
Sukhu also emphasised on job-oriented education and directed to start new technical courses at Himachal Pradesh Technical University, Hamirpur.
