By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 12 Aug: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami launched the e-edition of Garhwal Post at a function held at his official residence, here, today. With this, readers will get the opportunity to access the digital edition of the newspaper. The e-edition of Garhwal Post can be accessed at garhwalpost.in
Speaking on the occasion, CM Dhami remembered his long association of 22 years with Satish Sharma, Editor of Garhwal Post, and also with journalists associated with the newspaper, and appreciated the hard work and sincerity behind its regular publication. Dhami said that he clearly remembered the time when he was appointed as BJP Yuva Morcha President of Uttarakhand and Garhwal Post was one of the first newspapers to publish his photograph. Since then, the newspaper had seen a lot of growth and he was grateful to God for having now provided him the opportunity to launch the e-edition of Garhwal Post.
He added that, in his opinion, newspapers big, medium or small had a significant role to play and that he understood the hard-work and the struggle behind regular publication of smaller newspapers. The smaller and medium newspapers needed to be promoted and supported, he asserted, and claimed it would be his endeavour to support the smaller publications too in the state.
Praising the hard work and dedication of the Prime Minister, Dhami said he would make every effort to draw inspiration from Modi and replicate his hard work and dedication in the state. He also said that he had issued directions to the officials in the Secretariat as well as in the districts to work with the motto of no pendency. The files would have to be disposed of without any delay and any delay by the officials would have to be explained by them. The officials would now be held accountable for delay in dealing with the files without any grounds. He said that he was particularly grateful to the Centre in coming forward to help Uttarakhand and reminded that Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari had approved financial assistance of Rs 1,300 crores for roads in the state of Uttarakhand during his recent Delhi visit and had additionally promised roads projects worth Rs 50,000 crores. 
The PM, too, took a keen interest in development of Uttarakhand. Dhami recalled that though his appointment with PM Modi was only for 15 minutes but the meeting lasted more than an hour because Modi was sincerely keen about development of Uttarakhand and took personal pains to monitor the development activities in the state.
Pointing out that the government had initiated the recruitment process for around 24,000 posts in the state services, he added that even this would not help the youth too much as they numbered in the lakhs. The government would work hard to help the youth obtain gainful self-employment. Regular camps would be held for the benefit of those who wished assistance in self employment and their applications would be dealt with on the spot in the camps and the banks would also sanction loans and assistance on the spot.
The welcome address was delivered by international actor of repute Victor Banerjee, who was also a guest of honour at the function. He said that, when he settled in Mussoorie over 30 years ago, he was perhaps the only subscriber to The Statesman in Mussoorie but years later he chanced upon Garhwal Post and found it to be a very truthful and wonderful publication. Since then, he had been a regular reader of the newspaper.
Guest of Honour Dr S Farooq proposed the vote of thanks and recited several Urdu couplets in praise of CM Dhami as well as Garhwal Post newspaper and its editor-publisher Satish Sharma. Bollywood actor and comedian Sunil Grover also spoke on the occasion. Actor Rupesh anchored the programme. Many dignitaries from various walks of life, including DGP Ashok Kumar and authors and contributors were present on the occasion.
Among those present also included Cabinet Minister Ganesh Joshi, Upendra Kumar Sharma, Veteran Journalist, KH Zaidi, father of Ali Abbas Zafar, Himanshu Dhulia, brother of Tigmanshu Dhulia, Rupesh Tillu, Actor & Master of Ceremonies, Avinash Dhyani, Writer-Director-Actor of ’72 Hours’, film on Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat, Prof Dr Surekha Dangwal, Dr Anjali Nauriyal, Wing Cdr Anupama Joshi (Retd), KK Madan, Col Sameer Sharma, Colonel GS, Sub Area, Ankur Gupta, Sunita Vijay, Film Critic, Craig Cook, Principal, Woodstock School, Udit Ghildiyal, HIFEED, Afzal Veenu Khan, Saif Khan, Michelle Gardner, St Jude’s School, Sangeeta Kain, Principal, Welham Boys’ School, Kulbhushan Kain, Manish Dora, Webline Infosoft, Renu D Singh, Advocate, Samadhaan Women Helpline, Shubham Sharma and Aishwarya Sharma, Rajeevv Malhotra, Ataraxia, Hari Mehrotra, Film Producer, Vikas Mukhiya, Shekinah Mukhiya, Sandeep Sahni, President, Uttarakhand Hotel Association and owner of Hotel Fern Brentwood, Mussoorie.
