Chandigarh, July 18 (IANS) The opposition Congress on Monday "strongly objected" to the appointment of "good governance associates" in Haryana by the BJP government led by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
Congress leader and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda criticised the decision saying that this appointments would "demoralise" the administration as these associates will "interfere" in its day-to-day working.
"This unfortunate decision is against all canons of rules and the Constitution. This decision of the government clearly proves that the government has lost faith in its officers and a parallel system is being developed. This is an insult to the 2.5 crore people of Haryana and the administrative machinery," Hooda said in a statement here.
"It is very strange that these 'Sushashan Associates' will interfere in day-to-day affairs of the administration, but they will be responsible to none nor they will be governed by any service rules. Administrative officers are already demoralized due to the unwanted interference by the BJP ministers and the Sangh leaders," he said.
Questioning the logic of appointing of good governance associates, Hooda said that lakhs of rupees would be wasted on them in the name of "Sushashan".
"These persons do not know the real conditions of Haryana and they are being appointed on the orders of RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh). This is no justification to burden the state exchequer because there will no use to the public by these appointments," he said.
As per the Haryana government, the associates have been appointed with the "objective of ensuring good governance and transparency in the working of the district administration".
The associates recently completed a 15-day training session, sponsored by the Haryana government, at Ashoka University in Sonipat district.
"They would be posted in the districts with the objective of ensuring implementation and monitoring of big programmes of both central and state governments. They would also offer advise on how to ensure better implementation of these programmes and report to the Chief Ministera¿s Office," a state government spokesman said here.
The Khattar government has selected 22 associates, aged between 21 and 29 years, saying that they will help in making the administration effective in the state.
Khattar has said that the associates would work with the CMO at the state level and with deputy commissioners in the districts to take the policies and programmes of the state government to the people.
"They would see suggest how to better implement schemes and policies, give practical shape to the schemes and policies in the pipeline, and accelerate the pace of the work on them. They would also give ideas for new schemes and policies," he said.
The associates have been appointed for one year.
