Chief minister Harish Rawat on Friday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on building roads to connect Haridwar, Gangotri, Yamnotri and Badrinath.
He was reacting to the remark of Modi, who while laying the foundation of the 75-km-long Delhi-Meerut expressway on Thursday reportedly said he had plans for building roads to connect Haridwar, Gangotri, Yamnotri and Badrinath.
Rawat said, “He (Prime Minister) is serving food at others plate and expecting us (Uttarakhand) to survive only on aroma,” Rawat told HT.
The chief minister, who was at Kedarnath on the first day of the New Year to review the reconstruction work of the Kedarnath shrine town said a proposal on roads sent to Centre was gathering dust.
Rawat said if the Prime Minister was so concerned about Haridwar and Uttarakhand, he should offer financial aid to the hill state.
Rawat said, “Despite repeated requests, the Centre has not provided any (financial) help for Ardh Kumbh at Haridwar which is beginning this month.
Similarly, a proposal, sent to the Centre last year for strengthening national highway that connects Char Dham, did not get any response.”
Rawat who had replaced Vijay Bahuguna in January 2014 focused only on rebuilding the Kedarnath town that was devastated by 2013 floods which consumed 5,000 lives, leaving thousands injured.
{{/usCountry}}Rawat who had replaced Vijay Bahuguna in January 2014 focused only on rebuilding the Kedarnath town that was devastated by 2013 floods which consumed 5,000 lives, leaving thousands injured.
{{/usCountry}}The government took the help of the National Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) for it.
The district magistrate of Rudraprayag Rajeev Langhar said the administration completed most of the work related to compensation.
He said the administration decided to give Rs 1 lakh as relief to each of the 1,800 priests whose livelihood depended on the pilgrims.