DEHRADUN: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday. In the meeting the duo discussed many developmental and other issues related to the State. Incidentally, CM Dhami completed two years in the office on this day.
The CM told the PM that Uttarakhand is consistently progressing on ease of doing business, investment promotion and start-ups. He said that the State is organising a global investor’s conclave 2023 in the second week of December this year and invited the PM to attend the conclave as the chief guest. Dhami presented a picture of Baba Neeb Karori and Basmati rice of Uttarakhand to the PM. He told the PM that the finance ministry has set up a limit of credit on the externally funded projects to Rs 12652 crore till 2025-26 due to which the State is finding it difficult to propose new projects. Dhami said that the credit limit on the externally funded projects should be removed. The CM requested that the Centre should bear the project cost of building Kiccha- Khatima railway station estimated to be built with a budget of Rs 1546 crore.
The CM reiterated the demand for the approval of the Jamrani dam multipurpose project from the cabinet committee on economic affairs.
He said that approval for the proposal to shift the Dehradun railway station to Harrawala should be given in order to decongest traffic on the roads of the city. Similarly the CM demanded that the land of the old railway station in Rishikesh should be handed over to the State government.
The CM said that the 457 acre of the land lying unused in the Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) of Government of India BHEL in Haridwar should be transferred to the State. This land can be used for industrial or urbanisation processes.
He requested that work on the important infrastructure projects such as Dehradun-Tehri tunnel and Pantnagar airport extension should be expedited.
Dhami informed the PM that a four member team of the State headed by secretary to the CM visited Gujarat to study its good governance model. He said that taking inspiration from the Gujarat model, the CM grievance redressing system has been strengthened in the State and every grievance is end-to- end digitised while the CM office is monitoring things directly. A 24 -hour call centre under 1095 helpline has been set up in the State. The CM said that efforts are being made to strengthen the economy of the State. Work on Rs 7000 crore mega project Haridwar- Rishikesh redevelopment plan is going on. A new Admin city on the lines of central vista is also proposed with an estimated cost of Rs 6000 Crore. A new city is being developed on a 3000 acre land near Pantnagar airport. This city would be the nerve centre of the Amritsar- Kolkata industrial corridor.