Tuesday, 14 March 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Budget session of Assembly commences in Bharadisain with governor’s address
The governor lieutenant general (retd) Gurmit Singh said the State government is planning to double the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Uttarakhand by the year 2025 when the State completes 25 years of its creation. He said that the Pushkar Singh Dhami government has taken a commitment to fulfill the expectation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the third decade of the 21st century will belong to Uttarakhand.
The governor was addressing the first day of the budget session of the State Assembly at Bharadisain in Gairsain on Monday. Amid continued interruption from the opposition benches the governor read out the achievements and vision of the Dhami government. He said that the State government has set up a State Institute for Empowering and Transforming Uttarakhand (SETU) on the lines of NITI Aayog of the Centre. Similarly, Uttarakhand Infrastructure and Investment Development Board (UIIDB) has been set up to provide an impetus to the economy of the State. Presenting a rosy picture of the economy of Uttarakhand, the governor said that the per capita income (PCI) of the State stands at Rs 2,05, 840 which is 37 per cent more than the PCI of the country which is Rs 1,50,007. In the India Innovation Index 2021 of the NITI Aayog, Uttarakhand has been placed in second position among the Himalayan States and in fifth spot in the whole country.
The governor said that to give more representation to the women of the State in government jobs, the Uttarakhand Public Service (horizontal reservation)-2022 Act was brought in. He said that in order to put an effective control on the use of unfair means and copying in the recruitment examinations the Dhami government has brought the Uttarakhand Recruitment Examinations (prevention of unfair means) ordinance 2023. The Agriculture and Farmer Welfare department has undertaken a State millet mission to encourage the cultivation of millets and has initiated CM natural farming scheme and Namami Gange natural farming corridor scheme.
The Animal Husbandry department has started an ambitious goat valley project and poultry valley scheme in the State. The Dairy Development department is providing compact feed blocks to the milch animals at a subsidy of 50 per cent. The governor said that the report of the Forest Survey of India 2021 suggests that the forest cover in the State has increased by two square kilometres. Under the Champawat forest division a Jim Corbett Trail is being set up.
Under the Jal Jeevan Mission drinking water connection has been provided to 10,93,281 rural families. The Irrigation department is preparing a comprehensive master plan for construction of check dams and stop dams for augmenting the ground water table. A total of 1,102 Amrit Sarovars (ponds) were constructed by the rural development department and out of them 340 ponds were handed over for fishery. The governor said that ropeway projects are underway in Yamunotri, Hemkund Sahib and Kedarnath which will make the Yatra more accessible. Work on 15 projects is underway as per the master plan to make Badrinath shrine a smart spiritual hill town. Free textbooks were given to 7.42 lakh students of classes I to VIII in the government and the aided schools of the State. Similarly for the first time free textbooks were given to 3.19 lakh students of classes IX to XII in the State. Under the higher education department 20 institutes would be developed as the centre of excellence. Under the startup policy recognition has been given to 139 startups and financial assistance has been provided to 33 start-ups. The State government has applied for Geographical Indication (GI) tags for stinging nettle, pichhoda, crafted candles of Nainital, Mukhota (mask) of Chamoli and temple templates of Rudraprayag. The governor said that as per the report of the NCRB crime in India 2021, Uttarakhand is on the fourth position in the country for being safe for elderly.
In the concluding part of his address the governor expressed hope that everyone would contribute to the inclusive, balanced and sustainable development of the State.
