Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 19 Dec: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami chaired the tenth meeting of the Rural Development and Migration Prevention Commission at his official residence, here, today. During the meeting, the CM emphasised that migration has long posed a serious challenge for Uttarakhand. He also reminded that, over the past four to five years, the state government has undertaken several significant measures to encourage reverse migration and strengthen livelihoods in rural areas.
Dhami stated that a number of schemes have been launched by his government to expand employment opportunities in villages. He added that, under these schemes, beneficiaries are being provided subsidies on loans and that this has given fresh impetus to the rural economy. The CM also directed the officials to organise Pravasi Panchayats across the state. He also invited the migrants working both within the country and abroad these panchayats. He stressed that such Panchayats should serve as platforms to inform the migrants about the government’s initiatives to boost reverse migration and to seek their suggestions in this respect.
The CM further instructed the members of the Commission to visit other states to disseminate information about Uttarakhand’s efforts in this regard and to study innovations that may help prevent migration and promote return to villages.
On this occasion, Dhami also announced that 25 new sites in the state would be developed as wedding destinations on the lines of Triyuginarayan, with special focus on ensuring all basic facilities at these locations. He emphasised on the need to promote small-scale industries to accelerate development in mountainous regions.
Vice Chairman of the Commission, SS Negi shared that a clear trend of reverse migration is now visible in rural areas. He informed the meeting that approximately 6282 people have returned to their villages so far, including those coming back from other parts of the country as well as from overseas. Most of them are engaged in tourism and small-scale industries, moving steadily towards self-reliance.
During the meeting, the members of the Commission also presented several creative suggestions to further speed up the process of reverse migration.
Among those present on the occasion were Secretaries Vinay Shankar Pandey, Dhiraj Garbyal, Sridhar Babu Addanki, C Ravishankar, Additional Secretaries Anuradha Pal, Meharban Singh Bisht, Chandra Singh Dharmshaktu, Santosh Badoni, Suresh Joshi, along with the Commission members Anil Singh Shahi, Dinesh Rawat, Suresh Suyal, Ram Prakash Painuly and Ranjana Rawat.
