Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat
Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Sunday declared setting up of a Sita Mata tourist circuit, Rs 200-crore infrastructure facilities and a separate adventure sports directorate in Pauri, a day after the Uttarakhand Cabinet announced a number of decisions to stop migration from the district.
The Chief Minister said the famous Raghunath temple at Devprayag, Laxman temple at Deval and Sita Mata temple at Falsawari will be developed into a tourist circuit, which will promoted in India and abroad through a campaign.
He said infrastructure facilities worth Rs 200 crore would be provided in towns such as Khirsu, Pauri, Satpuli and Jaiharikhal.
To boost adventure sports in the area, the government would set up a separate directorate, which would train local youth in activities such as rock climbing, mountaineering, mountain biking and bungy jumping.
The state Cabinet met for the first time in Pauri on Saturday, amid deep concerns over the widespread migration of people from the district in the past few decades. Since the formation of the state of Uttarakhand in 2000, dozens of government offices in Pauri had been shifted to Dehradun and elsewhere or closed.
The main agenda of the meeting was to create new employment opportunities, mainly through skill development in the hills, and develop new irrigation and drinking water resources. The meeting discussed the draft of the new youth professional employment policy.
New growth centres for various products as well as a revolving fund of Rs 10 crore will be set up for farmers from the hills to buy agriculture products. For women, the Cabinet has decided to bring new stand-up schemes and set up help-desks.
A new water policy will also be formulated with a focus on increasing resources, especially in the hilly region. The Cabinet resolved to develop a Rs 6.92-crore lake at Lwali area to solve the acute drinking water problem in the district and also to develop it as a tourist place.
It also decide to develop the Purkul-Mussoorie ropeway project as a public-private partnership (PPP) with FIL Industries. An NCC Academy will be set up on 3.67 hectares of land at Sitonsyu.
The Cabinet also resolved to cancel the decision to develop a new secretariat close to the old secretariat by buying a piece of land for Rs 26.54 crore. This was done because of the on-going dispute in the Supreme Court, State Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik said.
The meeting commemorated the golden jubilee of the office of the Garhwal Division at Pauri and also mourned the death of Ankur, son of state Education and Panchayat Raj Minister Arvind Pandey, in a road accident this week.
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