Dehra Dun : Maj Gen (retd) B C Khanduri completes one month in office as chief minister of Uttarakhand today. The man who was put at the helm of affairs in this tiny mountain state following feedback that his predecessor Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ had made such a mess of things that the BJP would not get 15 seats forget return to power, has so far failed to deliver.
Realising that there was no visible change in governance in the state as far as the man on the street is concerned, Khanduri had to make the stark remark that he had no magic wand to bring about immediate changes, when scribes pointed out that things had not improved much in the past one month that he had been in office, far from meeting the expectations of the people.
Despite the fact that the chief minister has made some sweeping changes in both the senior and middle rungs of the bureaucracy, the files are not moving nor are things pertaining to the common man being taken up by the concerned authorities.
The focus apparently seems to be on getting good publicity, not realizing the fact that it alone would not bring about the required difference.
In fact some of the changes that have been made have even raised questions.
An officer who was removed from his senior position in Rudrapur for having failed in doing preventing the riots that rocked the town in the Terai region of the state has been made the vice chairman of the Mussoorie Dehra Development Authority (MDDA), which is the main body for undertaking developmental projects in the state capital region.
Detractors of Khanduri within the BJP itself, and there is no dearth of them, have openly started criticizing the chief minister for going all out for publicity rather than delivering the goods to the people.
Even the issue of corruption has not changed much for palms have still to be greased at various levels for work to be done in government offices.
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.
