SHIMLA: Is the Sukhu government’s much-hyped Vyastha Parivartan really a crusade for reform—or just a polite ploy to squeeze the state’s lower and middle-rung babus while sparing the real drain on the exchequer?
That’s the whisper ricocheting through Himachal’s Secretariat after the Finance Department’s latest order tore through employee pay packets.
In one stroke, the government scrapped the 2022 notification that had assured higher pay grades after two years—relief that had touched nearly 89 categories of staff, from clerks, JOAs, technicians and drivers to teachers, nurses, pharmacists and even class-IV workers.
For many, the rollback means an instant wipeout of monthly hikes worth ₹10–15,000. Their salaries will now be re-fixed “as if Rule 7(a) never existed.” The only consolation: the government won’t demand refunds of what’s already been paid.
But anger is boiling. “Why always employees?” workers ask. “MLAs’ perks are untouched. A ₹90-lakh car is being readied for the Governor. Advisors, OSDs, AGs and DAGs mushroom across departments, but when it comes to staff who actually run the system, suddenly the treasury is empty.”
The Secretariat Employees’ Organization, led by Sanjeev Sharma, has called an emergency session, warning that lakhs of families will be hit. Meetings with the CM, Chief Secretary and Finance Secretary are lined up for September 8.
And there’s a deeper rot: Why are retired IAS officers endlessly recycled—handed plum posts as advisors, CICs, RERA chiefs or granted extensions? Why not bring in professionals from other fields and break the Neta-Babu nexus that breeds mediocrity?
Meanwhile, the government is tightening re-employment rules—no more than a year’s extension, no medical perks, no official accommodation. Consultants are bracing for exits once their terms lapse.
But here’s the silence no one is addressing: Why isn’t the axe falling on non-planned expenditure—the real sinkhole of state finances? Why not divert those savings to farmers battered by back-to-back disasters since 2023? Orchards washed away, fields buried in silt, livelihoods wrecked—yet farmers remain invisible in Shimla’s corridors of power.
So is Vyastha Parivartan about financial discipline—or just selective austerity where babus bleed, netas feast, and farmers keep waiting for crumbs? The Chief Minister hasn’t shown his cards, but one thing’s certain: Himachal’s bureaucracy runs the writ, and Sukhu’s “parivartan” looks less like reform and more like an insider’s gamble to save a sinking exchequer.
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