By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 8 Nov: Governor Lt-General Gurmit Singh (Retd) has extended warm greetings and best wishes to all the people of the state on Uttarakhand State Formation Day.
In his message issued on the eve of the State Formation Day, the Governor saluted all the known-unknown immortal martyrs and leaders associated with the Uttarakhand State Movement.
Lt-General Singh said, “On the occasion of State Formation Day, we have to set three goals for ourselves- Immediate Goal, Intermediate Goal and Century Goal. Immediate Goal is to decide what Uttarakhand will be like by 2025, when we celebrate 25 years of our founding. Intermediate goal, by 2030, that is, what will Uttarakhand be like at the end of the third decade? This is the decade we have to make ours. Third, the Century Goal, i.e. by 2047, when India will be celebrating 100 years of its independence, what Uttarakhand will be like has to be decided now.”
The Governor mentioned that women have played an important role in the formation of Uttarakhand. Women are the most powerful members of the family. Even today, women are the backbone of the economic and social structure in the hill areas of the state. Women’s education, health and employment needs to be the priority. Women are becoming financially empowered through self-help groups in the state. By promoting women enterprises based on local products in the state, the twin goal of women empowerment and protection of local products will be achieved.
He said that the local products of Uttarakhand can become the basis of economic prosperity of the state. Special attention needs to be paid to packaging and branding. The goals of economic self-reliance, self-employment and reverse migration can be achieved by promoting enterprises based on local products. For the success of the Prime Minister’s “Vocal for Local” mantra, it is necessary to preserve the local products, traditional crops, food grains and handicrafts of the state.
Lt-General Singh said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Central Government has taken several steps for development of infrastructure facilities, promotion of tourism and culture in Uttarakhand. Development works worth crores of rupees are being done in Kedarnath-Badrinath, the centre of faith of lakhs of devotees. Just a few days ago, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of Gaurikund-Kedarnath, and Gobindghat-Hemkund Sahib ropeway. With the construction of these ropeways, the difficult journey of hours will be completed in minutes. More pilgrims will come, local shops, hotels will benefit.
He said that everyone’s participation is necessary in the development of the state. He appealed to the people of the state to give their full cooperation in fulfilling the goal of a developed Uttarakhand by discharging their duties and responsibilities with full devotion to make Uttarakhand the best state of the country.