CM urges Centre to make specific policies for Himalayan states during NITI Aayog meeting
By Our Staff Reporter
New Delhi, 27 Jul: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, while participating in the NITI Aayog meeting held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi today, reminded that Uttarakhand is also continuously working towards fulfilling the goal of Viksit Bharat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the meeting, he raised several pertinent demands regarding Uttarakhand, including demand for specific policies for Himalayan states and authority to the state government to approve small hydropower projects of up to 25 MW capacity.
Dhami reminded the meeting that Uttarakhand is a very sensitive state in terms of disasters and, keeping this in view, he thanked the Prime Minister for making special financial provision in this year’s Union Budget. The CM said that Uttarakhand has secured the first position in the recently released Sustainable Development Goals Index ranking, which is a matter of pride for the state. The Chief Minister said that under the guidance of the Prime Minister, the state has also passed the ‘Uniform Civil Code’ Bill in Uttarakhand.
Dhami also noted that a very serious crisis of drinking water has been witnessed in many cities of the country in recent past and to solve this problem, there is a need to work on water conservation along with serious efforts towards raising the ground water level. He intimated the meeting that for this, Spring and River Rejuvenation Authority has been formed in Uttarakhand, which is working on the project of water conservation and reviving water sources and connecting snow-based rivers with rain-based rivers. He requested special financial assistance and technical support from the Central Government for this project.
The Chief Minister said that for a Viksit Bharat (Developed India), there is an urgent need to promote entrepreneurship in rural areas, for which cluster based incubation centres and growth centres will prove to be important. Two rural incubation centres and 110 growth centres have been established in Uttarakhand as a pilot project. He requested the Central Government for technical and financial support to set up more incubation centre in the state.
To meet the energy shortage, the CM urged the Centre to the states to allow the approval and implementation of hydropower projects of less than 25 MW capacity at their level and to implement the proposed 24 percent capital subsidy for the construction of small hydropower projects in the Himalayan states along with the North-Eastern states. Dhami also urged the Centre to include lift irrigation in the guidelines of ‘PM Krishi Sinchai Yojana’.
The Chief Minister said that there is also an urgent need to pay special attention to important issues like global warming and climate change. In view of this, the Uttarakhand government is paying special attention to running development schemes in coordination with ecology and economy. The issuance of GEP on the lines of GDP has been started in the state.
Dhami reminded the NITI Aayog meeting that in any developed nation, its urban areas make a special contribution as a growth engine. It becomes difficult to provide basic facilities in these cities due to excessive population. To solve this problem, ‘counter magnet areas’ will have to be developed between different cities of the country. He said that there is a need to pay special attention to AI readiness and quantum readiness for the concept of Viksit Bharat by the year 2047 for research, development and innovation.
The Chief Minister said that in the eighth meeting of NITI Aayog last year, some proposals related to the development of Himalayan states were put forward. He requested to make specific policies in the context of Himalayan states on those proposals.
