Saturday, 26 March 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
Senior Cabinet minister of Uttarakhand Satpal Maharaj has said that the path to the prosperity of the state passes through the service sector. He said that under the new GST regime the tax is collected at the point of sale and that is the reason why the benefit of manufacturing goods is not received by the state like Uttarakhand. He said that the union government is compensating GST to the states but this is now going to end. Interacting with The Pioneer at his residence on Friday, Maharaj said that in such a scenario it would be prudent for the state to focus on the service sector. He said that emphasis should be made on the setting up of tourism and allied industries and for it a robust infrastructure should be developed. Maharaj added that an international airport in Haridwar should be set up to attract more foreign and domestic tourists. He said that the state government is focussing on home stays to give a boost to the rural economy. The cabinet minister and spiritual guru said that in recent times the tourism department of Uttarakhand has focussed on creating Shaiv, Vishnu, Sita Mata, Mahasu and other circuits to boost spiritual tourism and strengthen the culture. Similarly Vivekanand and Gandhi circuits would be developed to bring the places in the state where Swami Vivekanand and Mahatma Gandhi visited. The minister said that at present the religious tourism and Char Dham Yatra is limited to summers. He said that efforts should be made to develop the winter tourism potential of the state. “The state has a tremendous potential in the winter sports. Similarly the period of snowfall in the state can be promoted so that more and more tourists are attracted during the winters,’’ he said.
On the issue of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Maharaj said that the state cabinet in its first meeting on Thursday had decided to set up a high level committee composed of legal experts and all stakeholders on UCC. He said that the whole country should have a uniform civil code and it is good that the state government has taken a lead on it.
