On the occasion of 17th State foundation day, Uttarakhand Government has  given Uttarakhand Ratna Awards to eight persons, including six awarded  posthumously — Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali, Sridev Suman, Indramani Badoni, Jayanand Bharati, Gaura Devi and Badridatt Pandey, and also to the legendary leader and former CM ND Tiwari and Mahant Swami Ghanshyam Giri at the Chief Minister’s residence on Wednesday.

In his address Rawat said that the great figured in the history for the spirit of the just struggle they embodied. “They never cease to inspire. We are proud to bestow the  Uttarakhand Ratna Awards on some of the legends the state  has begot,”  he said.

He further said that the state having stepped into the list of the developed states is a glowing tribute to  the hard work of the people. “Every person hailing from the state craved for  the  statehood and struggled hard. We cannot  felicitate all of them. However, they must be happy seeing the state striding ahead. The state is progressing in myriad fields like agriculture, horticulture, MSME and tourism, thanks to the sincere works put  by  the people. But we  have still miles to go.  By way of achievements, we have roped in over 50,000 youths in the employment avenues of the Government sector. Forest department is now our partner in the State’s development process. We have been working on water conservation. As for the forests, we dream to restore them to what they were  in the ancient times,” CM said.

“We  are trying to boost agriculture  through giving bonus on multiple traditional crops, dairy, water and tree plantation. This year we have registered 5-10 percent growth in Mandua and Ramdana cultivation and we paid arrears of sugarcane farmers.  In the coming days, our farmers would have mukhya mantri swasthya bima yojna (MSBY) and soil health cards along with Aadhar cards. We will have to take our artisans too along the path of development. Besides, we have succeeded in making the state an open defecation free (ODF) one.  Three of our districts have become ODF. Now we are making concerted efforts to make the urban and yatra route open defecation free too,” he said.

Referring to the reconstruction of the 2013  disaster ravaged areas, CM said had they chosen to sit idle they would not have  received 15 lakh pilgrims this year.

Sports department has also disbursed Khel Ratna Award, comprising citation along with Rs five lakh  in cash, to Gurmeet Singh while Devbhoomi Uttarakand Dronacharya Award was given to Surendra Singh and life time Achievement Award to Rajendra Singh Rawat.

Folk singer Kabootari Devi was given lifetime Achievement Award for folk culture while Narendra Singh Negi was awarded  with Gopal Babu Goswami Smriti Samman. While late Chandra Singh Rahi was given Mohan Upreti Samman Urvashi Routela  and Parth Mehta were bestowed with Brajmohan Shah Smriti Samman. While  Dhol musician Uttam Das was given Keshav Das Anuragi Smriti Samman late Girish TIwari alias Girda was awarded with Mohan Singh Reetha Gadi Smriti Samman. Besides, Nandlal Bharti was  awarded with Ratan Singh Jaunsari Smrti Samman.

CM also disbursed two months’ pension among 21 statehood activists besides distributing regularisation lease among 35 slum families.

MSME department has felicitated S Farooq, Pankaj Gupta, Ramesh Chandra Bijnola and Ramesh Pahadi. Besides, 14 artisans were given Uttarakand State Shilp Ratna Awards. Three persons   from each district were given Krishi Pandit Award while three were given Horticulture Pandit Award. Gram pradhans who have done phenomenal works were also felicitated on the occasion by the State Government. labrej Singh Dharamsaktu was felicitated for his immense  contribution in adventure sports while Dr Jaxlin was felicitated for his contribution in  the field of education in Kedar valley post disaster 2013. Besides, lans Naik Dharmendra Singh was felicitated for his exemplary social works in kedarnath, post disaster 2013.

CM also felicitated representatives of Sahaspur block for their contribution in ODF. They are executive engineer Namit Ramola of Jal sansthan and executive engineer Sanjay Singh  in charge of drinking water.