“Not even once did they dare mention Gairsain during their prolonged stint in power. They have no moral right to raise a hue and cry now when we are taking a historic step towards honouring the sentiment of statehood agitationinsts and bringing about development in the hills,” he said.
Denying the charge that it was a political stunt in view of the forthcoming Panchayat and Assembly bypolls in the state, Rawat made a reference to his inaugural speech in the state assembly soon after being sworn in that he intended to a session of the state assembly at Gairsain.
“That was in February when Panchayat elections were far away. Still Gairsain was very much in my mind,” he said, adding that he will be very happy if the three-day session could debate burning issues like migration from the hills besides promotion of technical and skill based education among the hill population.
Stressing that the state government was very serious about having a Vidhan Bhawan at Gairsain, Rawat said a special board will oversee construction of infrastructure related to the Assembly building there such as power and water connectivity and hostels to accommodate MLAs and the Vidhan Sabha secretariat officials.
“We are trying to take the process initiated during my predecessor's (Vijay Bahuguna) time to its logical conclusion and have taken one step ahead by constituting an Infrastructure Board for Gairsain.
