With heading a Cabinet which has already been expanded beyond capacity after assigning ministerial status to about a dozen ruling party MlAs, Chief Minister Harish Rawat seems to be little careful in applying some degree of economic prudence while going for accommodating more party leaders in the Government bodies in a State like Uttarakhand whose debt has only grown manifold from Rs 4,000 crore since its inception in 2000 as the Government reports suggest.
As the present the State Government composition indicates that almost all the ruling party MlAs have been accommodated one way or the other, either in the Cabinet or in different committees and councils.
Now the State Government is going to assign responsibilities to more party leaders in different Government bodies and Chief Minister Rawat has already got the sanction of the party high command in this regard.
The matter of concern is that whereas the State Government has made up its mind to award responsibilities to more ruling party men in the coming days, there is nothing visible on part of the State Government to ease the financial burden of the Himalayan State which is already spending huge amount in terms of salaries and perks to almost all the ruling party MlAs which have been given responsibilities in different Government bodies, apart from the Cabinet.
The only step that Chief Minister Rawat took in this direction was cancellation of the foreign visit of some of his Cabinet Ministers a couple of months ago.
By this move, the State Government sought to give a message that it was serious to check misuse of public funds. Chief Minister Rawat also announced to take some tough measures to accelerate pace of development. But nothing concrete has been seen so far on the ground.
On the contrary, the State Government has decided to fortify its position by adjusting more party workers in the Government bodies in one capacity or the other, caring less about financial health of the State.
It may be recalled that the then ND Tiwari-led Congress Government in the State had also awarded a huge number of party activists by assigning them responsibilities. Yet, it failed to retain power in 2007 Assembly polls.
Chief Minister Rawat seemed to know things well, saying awarding responsibilities to party activists in the Government bodies proved ‘counterproductive’ in 2007. There is thus a need for circumspection, he said.
Interestingly, expressing concern over poor financial health of Uttarakhand, even the former Chief Minister Vjay Bahuguna during a Kumaon visit in 2013 said that the State had limited resources and added that that out of annual Budget of about Rs 25,000 crore, the State Government spent about Rs 16,000 crore on salaries and pensions.
Therefore, the Government had to understand how it can move ahead, taking care of all sections of the society, he maintained.
The Opposition BJP also expressed concern over the present Cabinet formation and the issue of giving about a dozen ruling party MlAs ministerial status.
