138 villages in Himachal Pradesh have caste names: minister

Shimla, Aug 18 (PTI) Himachal Pradesh minister Jagat Singh Negi told the Vidhan Sabha on Monday that 138 villages in the state have "caste names" but there was no proposal to change the name of any place as of now.

In a written reply to a question by Vinod Sultanpuri, Congress MLA from Kasauli, Revenue Minister Negi said that the approval of changing of name of any village, town and city is accorded by Ministry of Home Affairs.

Citing the Union government's guidelines, he said, it is not desirable to change the name of a place people are used. Names of villages that have a historical connection should not be changed as far as possible, Negi said.

Moreover, a change should not be made merely on grounds of local sentiments or linguistic reasons, he added.

In a written reply to a question by BJP MLA from Dharamshala assembly constituency, Sudhir Sharma, the minister said the cabinet has given approval to fill up 874 posts of patwaris in the revenue department.

Explaining why these posts had not been filled so far, Negi said that the Cabinet has decided to select candidates for these posts under the state cadre instead of the existing district cadre.

He added that before filling the 874 posts under state cadre, it is essential to bring necessary amendments in the existing Recruitment and Promotion Rules of Patwari (Mohalla) and Patwari (Land Management Department), which were notified in 2009 and 2013, respectively.

The recruitment rules for the post of Patwari have been approved by the personnel and finance departments and have now been sent to the law department for approval.

After the notification of the rules, the requisition for filling these posts will be sent to the recruiting agency, Himachal Pradesh State Selection Commission, Hamirpur, he added.

In reply to another question by Sudhir Sharma, Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh said 2,421 projects of his department were in progress. PTI BPL SKY SKY