Shimla: Prabodh Saxena, chief secretary of Himachal Pradesh has landed in the eye of a storm after running up a bill of Rs 1.22 lakh for a private Holi party and asking the government to foot it.
He has come in for severe criticism from Opposition leaders and former IAS officers after a copy of the bill surfaced on social media on Thursday. While Himachal Pradesh is not among the poorest states in India, it has been facing severe financial difficulties over the last few years.
Saxena, a 1991-batch IAS officer, received a six-month extension on the day of his retirement on March 31.
It has come to light that Saxena’s party, organised at Shimla’s Holiday Home Hotel, run by the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC), had 75 guests, including officers from various departments and their families. Incidentally, the Holiday Home Hotel itself ran into trouble recently over financial mismanagement and unpaid bills. These issues were earlier flagged by the High Court.
Several former bureaucrats have questioned the use of taxpayers’ money in this manner. The hotel has submitted the bill to the General Administration Department (GAD) for payment. However, the payment has not been made yet after the bureaucracy raised questions about whether the state exchequer should pay the bill.
According to the bill, the price per plate of food for the guests was Rs 1,000, totalling Rs 75,000. The GST charge was Rs 22,350. Lunch was also served for the drivers of the officers, totalling Rs 12,870.
Himachal Pradesh’s debt liabilities increased to Rs 76,651 crore in 2023. In 2024, there was a major row after the state government failed to pay salaries of 2.15 lakh employees and pensions to 90,000 retired employees on time. The employees blamed financial mismanagement and wasteful expenditure for this.
