Yog Raj Sharma
The North News
Shimla, September 27
The Himachal Pradesh government has decided that no new recruitments in the Jal Shakti Department will be made through contractors but will carry out hiring directly, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri said on Saturday. At a review meeting in Shimla, Agnihotri said that the department is currently paying contractors about ₹98 crore annually for 4,136 outsourced workers, while the same work would cost nearly ₹26 crore if handled internally. The proposal will now be placed before the state cabinet. Agnihotri also highlighted that the department had suffered losses of ₹4,150 crore in the past three years due to natural disasters, but only ₹800 crore had been received in aid. He said the state required larger relief funds, seeking ₹424 crore for maintenance from the finance department and ₹1,227 crore under the central government’s Jal Jeevan Mission, which has yet to be released.
He said 46,917 schemes had been damaged in three years of disasters. The review meeting approved 505 compassionate appointment cases, with 76 already recruited. Under the Jalrakshak policy, 1,346 staff have been promoted as para pump operators, and the government is considering reducing the promotion period from 12 years to eight. Nearly 4,000 multipurpose workers without a formal policy will also be covered under a new cabinet proposal, which will include salary hikes for pump operators, para fitters and multipurpose workers. On the protests by HRTC pensioners, Agnihotri said pensions and salaries were being paid regularly and additional grants had been sought. A file for pending pensions would be signed once the chief minister returned from abroad. He added that a ₹150 crore loan for HRTC staff dues had been approved by the cabinet and negotiations with banks were under way.
Agnihotri criticised the BJP for politicising disaster relief, insisting that the state should receive the promised lump sum of ₹1,500 crore as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
