Top-heavy administrative structure a principal drain on exchequer, says Shanta

Shimla: One of the state’s most pragmatic and reform-oriented Chief Ministers, Shanta Kumar, has blamed successive governments in Himachal Pradesh for the current Revenue Deficit Grant (RDG) crisis, arguing that the state’s administrative structure has been rendered unsustainable for a small state with a population of 75 lakh.

Responding to the Centre’s decision to stop RDG for Himachal Pradesh, as recommended by the 16th Finance Commission,

Shanta Kumar said, “Successive governments had, over the years, created new offices and posts without any serious assessment of the workload, public utility or long-term financial sustainability, and no effort was made to enforce austerity.”

As a result, Himachal Pradesh was facing an unprecedented financial crisis and must urgently curb avoidable expenditure, beginning with its unsustainable and bloated administrative structure. A small hill state with a population of 75 lakh, the size and cost of the bureaucracy had reached alarming proportions.

“Every additional office imposes a permanent financial burden in the form of salaries, pensions, vehicles, office buildings, support staff, and maintenance costs. At a time when the state is struggling to pay salaries, pension and dues to contractors, such extravagance is indefensible,” he added

He recalled his tenure as Chief Minister and said that he had introduced strict austerity measures by first putting his own office under financial discipline.

“I curtailed the number of vehicles accompanying him as Chief Minister and imposed a complete ban on the use of government vehicles on Saturdays and Sundays, except for emergency services such as ambulances and fire engines.”

He had also ordered the disconnection of unnecessary telephones in the offices of ministers, senior bureaucrats, and other departments.