Dehra Dun: Maj Gen (retd) B C Khanduri has been playing to the gallery ever since he was re-appointed chief minister of Uttarakhand in place of Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’. He has apparently been doing it with the vidhan sabha elections due in the state in February next year.
However, the million dollar poser that political pandits of the state are putting is whether all ‘goody goody’ talk and no change at the grass root level, as far as good and transparent governance is concerned, will hold the BJP good at the hustings.
“The Bills that have been placed for good governance and delivering the goods to the aam aadmi have not improved things even a bitâ€, they claimed.
To press home their point, they said that whatever the BJP state and central leaders may claim, the message that has gone down to the masses is the fact that Nishank was removed as chief minister of the state because of the large number of alleged scams that took place during his tenure.
He was replaced by Khanduri, who enjoys a cleaner image, in the hope of improving party prospects.
Political pandits, however, were of the view that in the over one and a half months that Khanduri has been in office there has been no single act, which has conveyed the message that the chief minister means business as far as corruption is concerned in the state, at any level.
“No action has been taken against any officer, at the lower or senior level of the bureaucratic ladder, who may have been involved in acts of corruption in the past or now.
Further no probe has been ordered into any of the large number of alleged scams that took place during Nishank’s tenure that may convey the message that the new regime under Khanduri intends sweeping the state cleanâ€, they pointed out.
They said that even laws that have been made for delivering services to the was apparently an eye wash for no babu of the concerned department, nor their senior officers were either sticking to the time schedule or even making efforts to do so.
“It is quite obvious that the bureaucracy is also aware of the fact that the announcements have only been made with the elections in mind, which is why they are also not taking the announcements seriouslyâ€, they contended.
A journalist with over 40 years of experience, Jagdish Bhatt was Editor, Hill Post (Uttarakhand).
Jagdish had worked with India’s leading English dailies, which include Times of India, Indian Express, Pioneer and several other reputed publications. A highly acclaimed journalist, he was a recipient of many awards
Jagdish Bhatt, aged 72, breathed his last on 28th August 2021 at his Dehradun residence.
