Nobody Dictates Or Interferes In My Working, says Himachal CM

From managing the COVID -19 crisis, bringing back 2.50 lakh Himachalis, mostly students stranded in other state during the pandemic, and  facilitating the safe return of thousands of youths employed in private companies in the metropolitan towns, first-time Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur,55,  is now talking about revival of tourism, industry and  the state’s apple economy. Gentle and soft-spoken, Thakur fights a faction-ridden and ‘leaderless’ Congress and tries to keep a balance between the government and “Sangathan”( the party)—led by J P Nadda, BJP’s national president, once himself a chief ministerial aspirant in the state. Ashwani Sharma spoke at length  with Jai Ram Thakur in Shimla .

As a  first-time Chief Minister,  that too for just two years,  how difficult was it to handle an unforeseen COVID-19 crisis and the subsequent lockdowns?

The pandemic has hit the whole world. Before its outbreak, not much was known about the behaviour and severity of the virus . Even today we are witnessing an alarmingly high surge of 84,000 cases a day.  Himachal Pradesh,  a state with its meagre resources and largely dependent on the centre’s help, faced a crisis  situation. Yet, if you compare the prevailing situation in other states, I can say we are in much better position in containing the infection. It's the result of good planning and monitoring . We were the first state to conduct  an active case finding study, by sending 16,000 health workers house-to-house during the COVID lockdown. Many  states later replicated our model.

At one stage,  you were about to declare the state corona-free. Now, the Himachal Pradesh tally is 7100-plus and 53 deaths.

Himachal Pradesh as such had fewer cases as compared to Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan . Thousands of our children studying in these states or attending coaching institutes, like in Kota in Rajasthan, got panicked.Their parents too got worried about their safety. Someone flashed both my mobile numbers on social media asking those wanting to come back home to call these numbers.  It was like opening the floodgates for distress calls. One of my phones had 100 calls within 30 minutes. Apart from this, a large number of people from Himachal Pradesh, working in other states, also wanted to return as they had lost their jobs and no resources in hand. The government finally took a call. We got special trains, buses and other transport organised to bring each of them back home .More than 2.50 lakh people were facilitated. The number of positive cases saw a huge  spurt due to this.

Biggest blow of the lockdown was to the state’s economy. Tourism sector was hit, and so was industry, business enterprises and daily earners .How do you propose to  revive these sectors? 

The total loss as we have assessed to the economy is Rs 40,000 Cr due to lockdown and  forced shut down of the industry, business and hotels etc.  We ensured that pharmaceutical units in Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh, our industrial belt,  resumed operations as five or six of them were manufacturing Hydroxychloroquine—an antimalarial drug having highest demand across the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also asked the state to facilitate the pharmaceutical units. The labour, which had returned to their homes, was also brought back. Slowly , the unlock situation has helped in the revival of economic activities, return of labour for construction and industry.  Hotels have also been allowed to resume business.

 Did you seek help from the centre or a bail-out package?

Every state is now asking for a bail-out package to make up the losses.  We have also put forward our demand. But I can tell the centre had been really helpful in starting some schemes like free ration,  bail-out of MSMEs, which are 98 percent in the state,  giving us 500 ventilators, PPE kits and N-95 masks.

Opposition Congress says the government failed miserably to handle the COVID-19 crisis, that no help has come from the centre, and that governance has collapsed completely .

I cannot blame the opposition. They have to play their role, and rack-up some issues. Fact remains that Himachal Pradesh handled the crisis in a much better way than some
of the Congress –ruled states like Rajasthan and Punjab , where more experienced Chief Ministers are at the helm of affairs.  This was a unforeseen and  unpredictable situation. We may have defaulted over  certain decisions yet we took no time to make corrections. The officers, teams, police and medical personnel worked around the clock. Those who came back from hotspots or were brought back by the government were first sent to quarantine centres. Only after their tests were they allowed to go homes. This helped in  containing the spread.

The COVID cases are still increasing every day.  Is Himachal finally heading for the peak?

Nobody knows when Coronavirus will end. We have to live with it and unlock all those activities which are necessary for the economic revival of the state. Despite MHA  instructions, we have not fully opened the inter-state borders. There is a provision of registration still in force. This is required for contact tracing . Now that we are passing through the monsoon period,  it is believed the virus spreads and propagates faster in moist conditions .Thus,  I have appealed to people  to remain careful.

Apple season is in its peak. The growers have complained about acute shortage of labour, mostly Nepalis, who are the backbone of the apple economy ...

For several years, apple producers were solely dependent on migrant labour from Nepal. They used to arrive during the season and return thereafter. This time, due to lockdown and their own fears, they did not come.  Still, the government took steps and arranged labourers from elsewhere including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Bihar and also from within Himachal Pradesh. Not this alone, we also made arrangements to meet the apple growers demand for packaging materials and transport for the fruit. This was a massive effort to prepare for marketing of 2.5 cr or 3 crore apple boxes.

How do you find yourself on the leadership front ? It is said most of your decisions are dictated by BJP national president J P Nadda ?

 I am very comfortable in my position as Chief Minister .I don't see any challenge to my leadership.  I enjoy the confidence, trust and backing of the party high command, which had chosen me for the post. Nobody has dictated or interfered in my working . I have a free hand in the governance. It is also true that we work in close coordination . What you call interference, we actually call it a consultation process . Naddaji hails from Himachal Pradesh. We have worked together for years, and were also cabinet ministers under Dhumal ji  (former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal). There is no clash of interests, rather a close coordination and good mechanism is in place. The Congress is at verge of its end nationally, and also in the state. Thus, there is no challenge to the BJP in the state. We will win again in 2022.