Union Information and Broadcasting and Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said that Uttarakhand is lagging far behind in implementing the Government programmes, given the laidback attitude of the officers. “Aside from their inability to utilize the funds, they are not executing the  Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan in the way they should. The  Trivendra Singh Rawat government has crossed 100 days in office. Now, it is time for the officers to expedite the  execution of the flagship  projects,” he said while talking to the media persons in Dehradun on Thursday.  The Chief Minister was also present at the press conference. The Union Minister also said that his department has released  Rs 51.14 crore to the state.

“The Centre has made a provision for the Union ministers to  visit states, assess the ongoing projects and release the funds if  the states are found to have  performed well. Earlier, it was for the state to demand funds from the Centre with the latter releasing them  only after  the utilisation certificates (UC) were received. It took time. Now, things would move apace with the  PM Narendra Modi having introduced the new system,” he said.

He further said that  the PM has made it clear that the states would no longer get development funds on  demographic basis. “They must reform, perform and transform (RPT) to receive funds,” he said.

Referring to the smart city project, the Union minister said that the  state would get  Rs 500 crore from the Centre with the state government spending Rs  500 crore under the project.  “Do you think that with  Rs 1000 crore a city can become a smart oneIJ My answer is no, because for a city to turn smart,  myriad matters like road, water supply, drainage, tax collection, transport, accountability and transparency, sign board, parking space, open space and solid waste management must be taken care of.  Once all these things are put into place the private entrepreneurs would come forward to contribute on  public- private partnership (PPP),” he said.

Naidu invoked  Hyderabad, saying that GIS mapping has been done there following which  the  income has surged to  Rs 1035 crore from  Rs 765 core. “Even Bangalore has been doing the same with such a startling result. However, Uttarakhand is lagging behind even  in the  use of lED bulbs. Substituting the conventional bulbs with the lED bulbs is an imperative as it helps save energy by 40 percent,” he said.

He stressed on appointing bonafide bureaucrats under special purpose vehicle (SPV) to implement the smart city project. “For this, we have approved Rs 593 crore and released Rs 107 crore to the state. Even we have approved 139 projects as well. However, the status of water and sewerage connection in Uttarakhand is very  poor. We have asked the chief minister to work on  the target basis. Currently, 1.23 lakh households do not have running water connection. Even  though Dehradun has no agricultural land the people have to seek no objection certificates (NoC) from the  departments dealing with such lands. I have appealed to the  CM to repeal this rule and the  CM has assured that he would have it scrapped through cabinet decision,” he said.

 “The government is giving  loan at the rate of six percent for lIG, four percent for MIG and three percent for HIG,” he said. I have asked the CM to distribute free DTH set top boxes to the people living  in  the remote areas.

Earlier, Naidu along with  the CM Trivendra Singh Rawat has inaugurated the newly constructed Doordarshan and all India Radio (AIR) office in Dehradun.  He said that  Doordarshan and AIR play an important role in promoting  local language, literature and culture.  “The state having a unique identity, it  would reach out to  the world through this mediums in  the coming days. They will air programmes in local language so as to  promote the culture. A 24*7 service of Doordarshan would be launched  in the state shortly,” he said.

CM Rawat has expressed gratitude to the Union information minister for launching the Doordarshan channel dedicated to  Uttararakhand. It would prove an instrumental role in the State’s development, he said.  

Among those present during the inauguration included Haridwar MP Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Tehri MP Mala Rajya lakshmi Shah, Cabinet Minister Madan Kaushik and MlA Umesh Sharma.