By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 2 Aug: BJP National Co-Treasurer and Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Bansal raised the issue of Green Bonus to Uttarakhand during the Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha today.
Raising the issue, Bansal said in the House that Uttarakhand is a Himalayan state formed by then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, which is witnessing rapid development under the guidance of PM Narendra Modi and led by CM Pushkar Singh Dhami. However, the geographical situation of Himalayan states including Uttarakhand is different from the rest of the states of the country. Here, on one hand there is abundance of natural beauty and wealth and the environment is clean, on the other hand there is also complex problems due to difficult geographic conditions.
Bansal said that there has been a long standing demand for making an independent policy for the sustainable development of Himalayan states. The geographical conditions of Himalayan states are different from other parts of the country. Due to the adverse geographical conditions, rapid development is a huge challenge and is greatly affected due to rough conditions. It takes time for projects to be completed. Many projects are pending for a long time. The work that is easily done in the plains becomes very difficult in the hilly states in terms of labour and finance. It is very important to make a separate development policy according to the geographical and social structure of the hill states. This policy also should consider grant of green bonus to hill states as the development is constrained there because of large forest cover.
Naresh Bansal reminded that the special package for Uttarakhand which was given by Vajpayee Government was stopped by the Congress government, Uttarakhand can rapidly industrialise if this encouragement is given, Uttarakhand has a geographical position similar to the north-eastern states, on the same lines a special industrial package should be given to Uttarakhand. He also demanded that that considering the total floating population of the state is more than eight crore, the Centre should consider giving the benefit of economic assistance and schemes in proportion to it and also approve green bonus for the state.
