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Prime Minister Narendra Modil will inaugurate the Investors Summit in Dehradun on October 7. Uttarakhand Destination Investors Summit will be organised in Dehradun on October 7 and 8. Chief Minister Uttarakhand Trivendra Singh Rawat met the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Thursday and invited him for the Investors Summit to be organised in Dehradun. Prime Minister has given his consent for the same.
During meeting with the Prime Minister, Chief Minister requested for providing ‘Green Bonus’ of Rs 5000 crores annually to Uttarakhand in lieu of the Eco-System services, formation of Green Accounting System, providing necessary approvals to various hydro projects, establishing a Central Ayush Research Institute in Charekh Danda, Kotdwar, providing special central assistance for the Haridwar Maha Kumbh to be held from January to April 2021, increasing the standards for the amount of SDRF given as relief to the disaster affected people in hill areas and providing special central assistance for the resettlement of disaster prone villages. Chief Minister has handed over a letter pertaining to various matters related to the state to the Prime Minister and requested for the necessary action.
According to a study conducted with the support of the Indian Forest Management Institute, Bhopal, Uttarakhand is providing Rs. 95,112 crores of Eco-System services per year only from the forest area. But obstacles arise in development work in Uttarakhand for environmental reasons. Many hydro projects of the state are stalled because of which 65 per cent of the total power requirement has to be purchased. Hence, Eco-System Services being provided by the state should be included in the National Accounting System and through this system money from Green Deficit States should be collected and a national exchange should be formed. With this, allocation of funds should be done to the respective states according to the green cover. Till the system is in place, Uttarakhand be given a sum of atleast Rs. 5000 crore every year as ‘Green Bonus’.
While apprising about the possibilities of the hydro power generation and various projects in the state, Chief Minister requested the Prime Minister for the grant of approval from the cabinet committee on economic affairs for the 300 MW Lakhwar project. He has also requested for the appropriate funding of the energy component of the 660 MW Kishau project, technical and economic approval for the 300 MW Bawla-Nandprayag Hydro power project by the Central Electricity Authority and issuance of the term-of-references for the new necessary additional study Bawla Nandprayag and 100 MW Nandprayag-Langsu projects by the Ministry of Environment and Forest.
Chief Minister has requested that for the industrial development in the state, industrial promotional facilities should be provided to Uttarakhand in accordance with the package approved for the North-Eastern states. In order to encourage Ayush and Ayush research works in Uttarakhand, Central Ayush Research Institute under the Union Ministry of Ayush can be established. For this, Ayush Department of the state has land available in Charekh Danda, Kotdwar.
Chief Minister said that from January to April 2021, Maha Kumbh has to be organised in Haridwar.
He requested the allocation of funds in the form of special central assistance to ensure the arrangements of Maha Kumbh due to limited financial resources of Uttarakhand state.
Chief Minister said that the standards of the relief amount to be provided by SDRF to the disaster affected are not according to the hill areas. Hence, standards of SDRF relief amount to be given to the disaster affected people in hill areas should be increased. He said that more than 350 villages in the state are disaster prone. For the resettlement of these at other safer places, special central assistance should be provided. Chief Minister also requested the Prime Minister to declare Gaurikund-Kedarnath Ropeway a project of national importance and opening a Regional Training Center of the National Institute of Water Sports in Tehri.
Chief Minister said that for the Char Dham, devotees can also use the 111 km long National Highway number 123 (Herbertpur to Badkot) and 137 km long National Highway number 119 (Kotdwar to Srinagar). Hence, it is important to connect these routes with the Char Dham All Weather Road project. In order to end the problem of traffic jam with increasing number of pilgrims in Haridwar, construction of 4-lane bridge of 2 km 500 meter long at Ganga river below Kankhal near Jagjitpur is also important.
Apprising about the problem of drinking water, the Chief Minister said that in context of the hill state, the best solution to the problem would be to construct small reserviours at small rivers passing from nearby the various bastis. This will recharge the water resources and gravity based project will be set up. For this, separate center-funded scheme should be initiated at the level of union government for the construction of small reservoir. If this is not possible, then the state government should be given sanction for the externally assisted project. The proposed Jamrani dam project on the river Gaula of Nainital district should be declared a national project.
Chief Minister said that to ensure the supply of drinking water to the urban and sub-urban population of Dehradun, construction a 148.25 meter high Roller Compacted Concrete Gravity Dam on Song river, 10 km away from the city, is proposed. With this, apart from the resolution of the problem of drinking water, it will also help in the rejuvenation of Rispana and Bindal rivers. Its estimated total cost is Rs 978 crores. Chief Minister requested that the financial funding of the Song Dam project be done by union government.
There are only three air strips in the entire hill area of the Uttarakhand. Given the strategic importance of the state and sensitivity of the disaster, it is necessary to expand the facilities of air services. In one of the surveys, Chukhutia in Almora has been found suitable for the construction of air strip. In this, financial assistance from the central government will be required.
The entire land of the Garhwal Mandal comes under the Moradabad division of Northern Railway, whereas the entire land of the Kumaonn Mandal comes in the Izzatnagar division of the North Eastern Railway. This leads to coordination problem. Hence, the entire state should be brought under the one Railway Zone – that of Muradabad Division of Northern Railway.
The proceeding on the central government approved Rishikesh-Karnprayag railway line. In wake of the strategic and tourism importance, Tanakpur-Bageshwar-Karnprayag railway line should be approved. The survey of the Tanakpur-Bageshwar rail line has been done.
In order to reduce the logistic cost of the industries in Haridwar, there is a demand for a multi-model logistic park. Logistics park can be set up if 35 acres of land from the vacant land available with BHEL in Haridwar can be given to the state government. For this a request has been made to the Union Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises. Likewise, HMT in Ranibagh of Nanital district is closed from past many years. If this land is given to the state government free of cost, it could be utilised for the industrial investment and encouraging employment.
