Will CM Sukhu dare to shift offices out of Shimla?

The proposed move to shift some government offices out of Shimla to not just decongest the state capital but also save expenditure being made on rented accommodation in times of grave financial distress is a welcome step provided it takes off.

Being a ticklish issue, which could have a severe political backlash, considering regional sentiments, no Chief Minister has dared to act on the need for decongesting Shimla. The office of the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education office set up in Shimla in 1969 was shifted to Dharamsala in January 1983. Successive government have been reiterating the need to shift some of the offices out of Shimla but none took a call on the issue.

There are no second thoughts that Shimla, set up by the British to cater to a population of a few hundred British officers and their families in 1819, is crumbling under burgeoning population. The population of Greater Shimla Planning Area has crossed three lakh, putting its resources like water, power, roads, parking under tremendous strain.

It is only valid that some offices are shifted to Dharamsala, which has been bestowed with the status of the second capital and is the unofficial winter capital of the state. “If Virbhadra Singh could set up a second Vidhan Sabha at Dharamsala for holding of the winter session, then why can’t some of the offices be shifted to Kangra,” said an MLA on condition of anonymity, fearing political backlash.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who has dared to take some harsh decisions, has spoken about moving out some government offices from Shimla. Though no concrete decision has been taken, there is talk of the Wildlife wing of the Forest Department being shifted to Kangra, considering the setting up of Rs 300 crore Zoological Park and tiger safari at Bankhandi and the Industries department office being relocated to the Baddi-Barotiwala- Nalagarh, which houses 90 per cent of the state’s industry.

There is no doubt that any move to shift government offices from Shimla will be opposed tooth and nail not just by the employees of the concerned department but even by the local population. It was in 1994 that Virbhadra started the practice of holding a fortnight-long winter sojourn when the entire government, including ministers and bureaucracy, would relocate to Dharamsala to bridge the emotional gap between upper and lower Himachal and bring the administration closer to people of Chamba, Kangra, Una and Hamripur.

Shifting out some offices, which are presently functioning in rented private accommodation, will save huge amounts, especially in the present financial crisis, faced by the government.

It is in a bid to decongest Shimla that the satellite township at Jathia Devi, 12 km from here, was planned. It’s a different matter that even after more than a decade when the plan was conceived, the project has failed to make much headway. However, the satellite township will also help reduce the burden on Shimla, in a big way.

Himachal Tribune