Friday, 04 October 2024 | Gajendra Singh Negi
Land Laws
By asserting that a stringent land law will be tabled during next year’s budget session, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has not only sensed the public sentiment in the Himalayan State but has also silenced his critics, both outside and within the ruling BJP, who were contemplating to use the strong sentiments of the State’s people to save their cultural heritage and the agricultural land which their ancestors had carved out in the harsh mountains by sheer labour against the incumbent CM. Further, by his candid admission that the amendments incorporated in year 2017 in the Uttar Pradesh (Uttarakhand) Zamindari Abolition and Land Management Act 1950 have not yielded positive results, Dhami has tried to score political points over his predecessor, the formidable Trivendra Singh Rawat. However, by announcing that the bill on strict land laws will be tabled during the budget session of 2025, Dhami seems to have inadvertently given a window of four to five months to the land sharks eyeing precious properties in the State. It is advisable that the State government should either order an immediate moratorium on sale- purchase of land in the mountainous districts or promulgate an effective ordinance for the purpose.
Hospital hassle
When he planned a late night visit to CHC Thalisain recently, the Pauri district magistrate Ashish Chauhan probably wanted to surprise the staff deployed there but the young DM was shocked to find that there was not even a single employee in the hospital, though it was open for the convenience of the patients. Sadly, most of the hospitals and health centres located in remote and mountainous areas of the State present a picture which is more or less similar to Thalisain CHC. These health centres are not only suffering from shortage of doctors, other staff members and necessary infrastructure but also lack tremendously in administration, professional approach and suffer from reluctance of the staff members towards discharging their duties. Ironically, the conditions in the government hospitals in towns and cities are also not encouraging. It is high time for the PMHS, the powerful association of government doctors which always tries to armtwist the government to increase their salaries and allowances and other employee associations, to make an intervention to establish a work culture in the government hospitals and inculcate professionalism in the workers.
Overrating menace
Notwithstanding large scale raids, sudden inspections by excise commissioner and district magistrates and others officers of administration, the menace of overrating in the liquor shops across the State is going on unabatedly. The salesmen of the authorised liquor shops demand Rs five to Rs 50 more on different brands of liquor and beer in the State. Interestingly, the economics of the overrating is such that it prompts the liquor shop owners to demand additional money from the customers despite the raids and subsequent penalty imposed by the administration. The experts point out discrepancies in the present excise policy, which has done away with the system of seizure of the liquor shops, found involved in the overrating and other irregularities as the reason behind the audacity of the liquor shops to continue illegally burdening liquor aficionados of the State.
