Polls ahead, Rawat on project inauguration spree

Chief minister Harish Rawat is unveiling major projects every day expecting the election commission to declare Uttarakhand assembly poll schedule anytime soon to bring the model code of conduct into force.

Chief minister Harish Rawat is unveiling major projects every day expecting the election commission to declare Uttarakhand assembly poll schedule anytime soon to bring the model code of conduct into force.

Chief minister Harish Rawat during a meeting with Valmiki community members in Nainital on Wednesday. (Rajiv Kala/HT Photo)

Rawat tours at least 3-4 districts every day and announces a slew of doles besides inaugurating key projects. Other ministers are also following his footsteps.

The model code of conduct bars the government of a poll-bound state from announcing fresh projects and policies. The hill state will hold polls to the 70-member assembly early next year.

On Sunday, Rawat inaugurated a flyover in the state capital while another flyover and an international cricket stadium in the city will be unveiled later this week.

On Tuesday, he inaugurated a road and named it after late Samajwadi Party leader Vinod Barthwal. Similarly, he inaugurated another road and named it after former chief minister Nityanand Swami. On the same day, the state cabinet in principal agreed to give benefits of the 7th pay commission’s recommendations to state government employees.

The opposition BJP, meanwhile, is repeatedly firing salvo at the state’s Congress government for putting development works in the back-burner.

“People know why the entire government is suddenly rushing. In the last five years, they hardly had time to pay heed to the state’s development,” BJP state unit president Ajay Bhatt said.

The chief minister, however, defended self. “My fault is that I care for people” he said on Wednesday in Nainital.