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CM Dhami meets Union ministers, says state to get 1202 mobile towers
The chief minister also requested the Union minister to start a Jan Shatabdi rail service between Tanakpur and Dehradun.
Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday met with Union minister for railways, communications, electronics and information technology Ashwini Vaishnaw in New Delhi on Saturday. Dhami also paid visit to Union home minister Amit Shah.
On Dhami’s request, Vaishnaw approved 1,202 mobile towers of BSNL in Uttarakhand to strengthen the mobile connectivity in the state. Dhami said the cost of each mobile tower will be ₹ 1 crore.
The chief minister also requested the Union minister to start a Jan Shatabdi rail service between Tanakpur and Dehradun.
“At present, there is only one train service running between Dehradun-Kathgodam to connect Kumaon and Garhwal. Owing to the attached border with Nepal, the movement of people from there is also from Tanakpur area. Therefore, to further strengthen the Kumaon-Garhwal connectivity, it is necessary in the public interest to operate a Jan Shatabdi rail on the Tanakpur-Dehradun route”, he said.
The chief minister also requested for an upgrade in Tanakpur-Bageshwar railway line from the narrow gauge to broad gauge, making Haridwar-Dehradun rail line double lane, modernization of Harrawala railway station, Rishikesh-Uttarkashi rail line and Kichha-Khatima rail line.
During his meeting with Amit Shah, Dhami urged him to increase the amount of ₹ 50,000 per PACS (Primary Agricultural Credit Society) being given by the central government.
The CM said that an amount of ₹ 3.35 crore has been allocated by the central government for 670 PACS, which is less in relation to the expenditure per PACS.
Dhami said that Uttarakhand is one of the pioneers in PACS computerisation project. “Uttarakhand will get a big relief by getting the assistance provided to the hill states in the ratio of 90:10. A total expenditure of ₹ 18.76 crore has been made for 670 PACS in the state,”he said.
The chief minister said that more than 108 PACS of the state have been computerised. “The work on the remaining 502 PACS will be completed in the next six months”, he said.
The CM also expressed his gratitude to Amit Shah for the decision to computerise of PACS. He said that the move will revolutionise the working of societies and will prove to be one of the most important reforms in the cooperative sector.
Dhami also raised the issue of increasing funds for the modernisation of police.
The CM said under the police modernization scheme, an average of ₹13 crore has been sanctioned annually to Uttarakhand till the financial year 2014-15, but from 2015-16, this amount has come down to an average of ₹ 5 crore per year. He requested Shah that the amount be increased to ₹ 20 crore per year for the state.
The CM also requested allotment of ₹ 25 crore under the Nirbhaya Fund for infrastructural upgrade along with issues related to women and child security.
The CM also requested a sanction of ₹ 33 crore under BADP (Boarder Area Development Programme) for the construction of 11 border police outposts in the state, allotment of ₹8 crore for strengthening the cyber lab under cyber-crime prevention against women and children scheme and ₹500 crore special package for increasing residential facilities for Uttarakhand Police.The chief minister also apprised the Union home minister about the preparations for the ongoing Har Ghar Tiranga campaign in the state.
