By OUR STAFF REPORTER
GUPTKASHI, 18 Nov: Addressing a large public gathering here on the final day of Kedarnath Assembly by-polls campaign on Monday, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami appealed to the people of Kedarnath to make BJP candidate Asha Nautiyal win. Dhami said that Asha Nautiyal herself has stood in the election with her report card. He said that as a public representative, Asha Nautiyal has come to him several times in the last three years seeking government help for development of the Kedarnath area. He mentioned that despite Congress ruling the country for 60 years, no Prime Minister from their party has visited Baba Kedar’s Dham. Prime Minister Modi is the first Prime Minister of the country to have visited Uttarakhand seven times to visit Baba Kedarnath, as Baba Kedarnath resides in his heart.
Dhami asserted that the grand and divine construction work of Kedarnath Dham is going on under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Development work is being done in this area with an amount of more than Rs 2,000 crore. Along with Kedarnath Dham, the entire Kedar Valley is being developed rapidly. Work is being done on many roads, bridges, parks, and religious places in these areas. Many schemes run by the government, like Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, have worked to improve the lives of the people and take them forward.
He claimed that during the Congress rule, the number of people visiting Kedarnath was continuously decreasing, but now, under the double-engine BJP government, the number of pilgrims is increasing every year. This year, more than 16 lakh devotees have visited Kedarnath. He said that the administration is working to remove the problems faced during the travel time. The Government will soon form a Yatra Authority and will work to conduct the Char Dham Yatra in a systematic manner. He mentioned that before the Yatra Authority is formed, the opinions of all stakeholders, pilgrimage priests, hotel traders, shopkeepers, and horse mule operators will be taken. The traders will be granted permission two months before the start of the Yatra, so that no one has to face any problems.
Dhami also reminded that during times of disaster, he himself ventures into ground zero and stands with the people. This time, during the disaster in Kedarnath, 16,000 pilgrims were evacuated safely. The state government has compensated the loss suffered by the traders with an amount of Rs 10 crore. On the other hand, after the 2013 disaster, Congress government had played with the lives of the people of the area, he claimed.
The Chief Minister said that the Congress promoted land jihad and illegal religious structures in Uttarakhand. Congress leader Harish Rawat talks about settling infiltrators. The Chief Minister said that due to these actions of the Congress, the demography of the state is changing. He mentioned that on the one hand, they are rebuilding Badrinath-Kedarnath Dham, building roads, and hospitals, while the Congress leaders talk about building a Muslim University. The Chief Minister said that their government has done the work of removing illegal encroachment from 5 thousand acres of land. He said that the state government will soon bring strict land laws.
The Chief Minister said that when the Congress candidates were MLAs in the past, they only made excuses for not working. They were given crores of rupees for development work as MLA funds, but they returned the amount of Rs 6 crore.
