By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 21 Oct: BJP state media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan today claimed that the state is rapidly moving ahead towards economic prosperity under the BJP Government. In a statement issued, today, Chauhan described the “record growth” in the state’s economy as highly encouraging. He thanked Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami for this achievement and claimed that the state is touching new heights in overall development.
Chauhan reminded that, in the development journey of 24 years, the economy of Uttarakhand has taken a long leap. Today, the size of the economy has increased 24 times since the formation of the state, while the per capita income has increased 17 times.
Chauhan said that, despite facing many challenges during the past two decades, Uttarakhand has not let the pace of development slow down. Today, the state’s economy (GSDP) is continuously improving. The rapidly growing size of the economy indicates the prosperity of the state. At the time of formation in 2000, the size of the economy was merely Rs 14,501 crores, which has increased to Rs 3,46,000 crores in 2023-24. The tourism sector has played a crucial role in this. Two years ago, the tourism sector’s share in GSDP was 37 percent which has now increased to 43.7 percent. Similarly, per capita income has also increased to Rs 2 lakh 60 thousand compared to the per capita income of Rs 15,285 when the state was formed.
Chauhan attributed the record revenue receipts in mining to better management and a transparent mining policy and claimed that the data indicates that, during the Congress tenure, a large part of revenue of mining went into the pockets of the mafia. Instead of increasing the revenue, the Congress kept protecting the mafia, he further claimed.
He said that due to simplification of mining rules by the state government, revenue of Rs 500 crores has been received so far in the financial year 2024-25, and an additional amount of Rs 1,200 crores will be received by March, which will be four times more than the revenue received under the Congress government. He claimed that under the Congress government, mining revenue never exceeded Rs 300 crores. He said that the state government is setting up 45 e-mine check gates at 40 places in the border of the state’s border states so that illegal mining can be stopped.
Chauhan claimed that mining leases were sold during the Congress period, but a very transparent policy has been made for this in the Dhami government. A provision has been made to allocate mining leases through e-auction, so that the allocation of mining leases can be done in a transparent manner. For the first time, the state government has imposed a tax of Rs 70 per tonne on minerals coming from outside the state, which is known as ISTP.
Chauhan asserted that Congress should take cognisance of the figures and introspect where it stood in today’s context. He said that today due to the manifold increase in revenue, the Congress is nervous and is spreading all kinds of propaganda regarding the mining policy.