With the entire ministry staid put in Mandi parliamentary constituency, all governance, policy and decision making processes and political supervision over the executive machinery has been at a standstill for almost a month.
Files are not moving, funds are not reaching the targeted schemes, and officers and clerks are without work.
People seeking the intervention of political leaders, or ministers are unable to contact anybody meaningful for there is no minister available in the government secretariat.
The government is in autopilot mode as nobody is sure who is in charge of what.
For the six months that the new government has been in power, over half the time the chief minister and senior cabinet ministers have simply been shuttling between Shimla and Delhi.
No new vision has been spelled out, barring plans of opening the states ecologically fragile lands for more cement plants.
The government has already announced approval for a large cement plant in Sirmaur and another four or five proposals are in the pipeline.
Enough is not enough yet.
Having pitched an intense election campaign about ‘Himachal for Sale’, but once firmly in the saddle, the same Congress party which vehemently opposed the Apartment Act – in the Vidhan Sabha, media and before the public on assuming power has liberally gone about granting new licenses to the powerful builder lobby.
More building and more concrete make for a lethal combination in the fragile hills.
It is business as usual now.
Knee jerk reaction of the government towards the calamity and damages to Kinnaur because of an unusually heavy snowfall in the higher reaches of the district and a heavy down pour in other parts of the district only reflects the casual approach towards the problems faced by the people.
An election must be won or lost before anything else can be considered.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
Glad this has been brought to light by the media but in truth this has been going on for a decade or more. The only time you see MPs are when a election is due like the bye elections that have just passed when they need your vote to keep themselves and there relatives above the law. How can one off Indias most beautiful states be torn apart by cement plants and hydro dams for cash in the hand politics. Its so morally wrong!