Population pressure is constantly increasing in Himachal Pradesh’s capital Shimla. To reduce this, the state government will shift some government offices from here to other districts. Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has made this announcement in the monsoon session of the Assembly. Jawalamukhi Congress MLA Sanjay Ratan had raised the issue of lack of housing for government employees in Shimla inside the House.
In response to this, Chief Minister Sukhu said that Shimla, being the capital, has a lot of government offices, which needs to be reduced and in such a situation some government offices will be shifted out of Shimla to other districts. The Chief Minister says that while on one hand this step will remove the pressure of increasing offices and population from the city, on the other hand the problem of housing of the employees will also be solved.
The Chief Minister said that there are many buildings lying vacant at the district level which are not being used right now and they will be put to use if the offices are shifted there. The government is considering shifting these offices there. He said that since it is the capital, all the departments are here.
The Chief Minister said that there is no land to build government houses in Shimla. He said that a list has been prepared for giving houses to the employees and at present 47 houses are vacant here, but they are not habitable yet. The Chief Minister said that the houses of ministers and officers will be earmarked. He said that the Himachal Pradesh High Court has also earmarked the houses. The government will talk to the High Court about giving the vacant government houses to the government. The Chief Minister said that the ministers and officers who have not got houses will be given houses soon. Their houses will be earmarked.
The previous BJP government had also announced to shift the office
The announcement to shift government offices from the capital Shimla was also made during the tenure of the previous BJP government, but no steps were taken in this direction. In fact, two years ago when the BJP government was in power, the then CM Jairam Thakur had announced in the monsoon session that some government offices would be shifted to areas adjacent to the city. He had said that possibilities for this would be explored soon because traffic jams and other problems are arising due to the increasing burden of population in the city. Apart from this, the areas around the city will also develop due to the construction of government offices.
Jairam Thakur had argued that there is a constant population pressure in Shimla. There is a huge problem of traffic. In such a situation, it is necessary that some government offices be shifted from here to the nearby areas. This will provide traffic facilities there and the adjoining area will also develop. He had claimed that his government would seriously consider this, but the then BJP government did not implement this announcement. Now the Congress government has also made the same announcement and it remains to be seen when it will be implemented.
Shimla city has a population of 2.5 lakh, water and traffic jam problems are common
The population of Shimla city has increased manifold in the past years. The British had settled this city for a population of 25 thousand, but now about 2.5 lakh people are living in Shimla city. Many villages and towns adjacent to Shimla have now turned into suburbs. Buildings standing on slopes of up to 70 degrees can be seen in the suburbs. Landslides during heavy rains are posing a threat to many buildings. The increasing population has created problems of water, vehicle parking and traffic jams here. It has become common for water crisis to worsen during the summer season. Similarly, during the tourist season, tourists have to face several kilometers long traffic jams to enter the city.
Report: UK Sharma
