By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 23 Jan: Tourism and Culture Minister Satpal Maharaj today conducted a surprise inspection of the Culture Directorate and the headquarters of Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN), here, today. During his inspection of the Culture Directorate located in MDDA Colony, Dalanwala, he expressed his displeasure in no uncertain terms over non-payment of bills due to artists and cultural teams. These payments have been allegedly pending for almost a year now. He was accompanied by Secretary, Culture, Harichandra Semwal.
Maharaj directed that these pending bills be cleared immediately and all further bills too should be cleared promptly. He warned that any kind of negligence would not be tolerated.
Maharaj, along with Semwal, suddenly reached the Culture Directorate at 10:30 a.m. today and checked various records and files. He was particularly peeved at the fact that the bills submitted by the artists and the cultural teams had not been cleared since April 2022.
He demanded to know from the officials present why these bills had been pending for so long.
He was told that there was a shortage of staff at the Culture Department. He directed that the vacancies be filled at the earliest.
After this, Maharaj also made a surprise visit to the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) Headquarters on Rajpur Road and directed General Manager Vipra Trivedi to ensure that all pending bills of suppliers, contractual and other related works be cleared expeditiously.
He directed the General Manager to get the DPC done soon for the promotion of those employees of GMVN whose promotion had become due. During the discussion, the minister assured the GMVN officials that the issue of liabilities of about Rs 43 crores related to the gratuity and arrears of the employees would be resolved soon.
Reminding Vipra Trivedi that there are several guest houses of GMVN that were not operational despite being located in places receiving tourists or pilgrims, Maharaj directed her to work out a plan to lease them to local unemployed youth so that these could become operational. He further warned the GMVN staff that negligence of any kind would not be tolerated.