Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 8 Jul: Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan welcomed NITI Aayog Member Dr M Srinivas and his team, who are visiting Uttarakhand, with a bouquet of flowers at the Secretariat, here, on Wednesday. During the meeting, Principal Secretary R Meenakshi Sundaram presented the state’s progress, while Advisor and Programme Director, NITI Aayog, Dr Sonia Pant, presented the state’s key achievements and economic roadmap.
Welcoming the NITI Aayog Member and his team, the Chief Secretary stated that Uttarakhand has made significant progress in economic development, infrastructure, education, health, electricity, roads, tourism, and social development since its formation. He noted that Uttarakhand has emerged as one of the leading states on several indicators, achieving a top rank in the Sustainable Development Goals Index 2023-24. He stated that efforts have been made to simplify the ease of doing business and improve the ease of living through citizen-friendly regulatory processes.
The Chief Secretary noted that providing affordable healthcare in remote areas remains a challenge in a mountainous state like Uttarakhand. Continuous and effective technical support from NITI Aayog is needed to address malnutrition among women and children and improve access to healthcare. AIIMS and other similar Centres of Excellence can be utilised as knowledge partners for health research on regional health issues, clinical best practices, capacity building, telemedicine, and emergency care in the Himalayan region.
Dr M Srinivas stated that Uttarakhand is performing well in various areas. He added that more work needs to be done on health-related outcome indicators and SDG targets. Uttarakhand’s performance in maternal mortality and neonatal mortality is better than the national average, but further improvement is needed. Emphasising increased efforts towards institutional delivery and TB treatment, he called for strengthening primary healthcare facilities and infrastructure in the state. He also called for strengthening emergency and trauma care services. He also called for strengthening AYUSH and developing the AYUSH ecosystem.
Present on the occasion were Principal Secretaries RK Sudhanshu, R Meenakshi Sundaram, Secretaries Shailesh Bagauli, Dilip Jawalkar, Dr Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Dr Ranjit Kumar Sinha, Deputy Secretary, NITI Aayog, Deepak Kumar and OSD, NITI Aayog, Dr Shobhit Kumar, along with other senior officials from the government.
