PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
The Bharatiya Janata Party has come out in defence of the bureaucracy and chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami’s four years in office in response to allegations levelled by the Congress. The BJP has stated that the Congress is venting its frustration by criticising the historic performance of the Dhami government. The party also called the bureaucracy the backbone of the State’s economy and advised the Congress to observe patience and control.
Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat had commented on social media that Dhami is probably purposely not using the art of reining in the bureaucracy “busy making money” which is affecting development and public welfare in the State.
Reacting to this, the BJP State president and Rajya Sabha member Mahendra Bhatt said that the bureaucrats are the backbone of the economy in every State and that there should not be any doubt regarding this. He said that there is nothing artificial in CM Dhami or the BJP government, stressing that everything is real. Bhatt said that Rawat had always ignored the bureaucracy and the leaders themselves became involved in corruption, got caught and are now facing cases. “The job of the bureaucracy is to fill the State’s treasury and it has also filled the State’s treasury through mining.The bureaucracy has increased excise and GST collection to fill the treasury while 24,000 government jobs were provided to the unemployed. By increasing the income of the public, the government has also increased the wealth of the citizens,” he said.
Bhatt said that the State government made more than 40 policies and took public-oriented decisions in tourism, power, industry, agriculture and other sectors which has generated employment and self-employment for the people. Women were provided reservation in government jobs along with statehood activists and their dependents to respect public sentiment. A strong land law was enacted to prevent the uncontrolled sale and purchase of land in the State. Bhatt further said that the bureaucracy had removed encroachment from more than 6,000 acres of land of the Forest department and had grounded investment proposals worth Rs 1,00,000 crore.
Responding to Pradesh Congress Committee president Karan Mahara’s statements, the BJP State media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan said that this is a sign of the Congress’ frustration. He said that the Dhami government is answerable to the public but the Congress is making such allegations due to frustration and hopelessness. The State government has done unprecedented work to protect the State’s culture while the assaults on the State’s dignity by the Congress are known to all, he said.
