NITI Aayog meeting: Uttarakhand CM calls for policies specific to needs of Himalayan state

New Delhi, July 27 (IANS) Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, participating in the NITI Aayog meeting in the capital on Saturday, said that Uttarakhand is continuously working towards fulfilling the goal of Viksit Bharat.

Highlighting the fact that the hilly state was prone to disaster and natural calamities, he thanked the Prime Minister for making special financial provision in the Union Budget.

He said that Uttarakhand has secured first position in the recently released Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Index ranking, which is a matter of pride for the state. He also spoke about Uttarakhand becoming the first state to pass the 'Uniform Civil Code' Bill.

The Chief Minister said that there was a pressing need to work on water conservation and increase the groundwater given the crisis of drinking water in many cities.

“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 said and also requested special financial assistance and technical support from the Central government.

The Chief Minister said that for a Viksit Bharat, there is a 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 also requested the Centre for technical and financial support in setting up incubation centres. To meet the energy shortage, the Chief Minister requested the states to allow the approval and implementation of hydropower projects of less than 25 MW capacity and to implement the proposed 24 per cent capital subsidy for the construction of small hydropower projects in the Himalayan states along with the North-Eastern states.

The Chief Minister said that everyone needs 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 the economy. The issuance of GEP on the lines of GDP has been started in the state.

The Chief Minister further said 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.

He also brought the attention of the top policymakers to the fact that in the eighth meeting of NITI Aayog last year, some proposals related to the development of Himalayan states were put forward. He urged the Centre to facilitate making specific policies on those proposals, for the development of the Himalayan state.

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