Raising questions on the claims of investment made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami during the Global Investors Summit -2023 the Uttarakhand Congress has said that the State government should clarify as to how much land the state has for industries. The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Karan Mahara said on Saturday that the State has only 13 per cent land for agriculture and will the government acquire land from farmers for industry? He said that after a similar summit held in the year 2018, the government had made major changes in Uttarakhand Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act of 1950 that raised the demand of a strong land law in the State. Mahara raised apprehension that the State government can again make changes in land laws to please capitalists. Taking a dig at the statement of PM that Uttarakhand should be developed as a wedding destination, the PCC president said that the NGT has imposed a ban on new construction in tourist spots like Mussoorie and Nainital and in such a situation will the government promulgate an ordinance for exploitation of the mountains?
He said that the people of the State have not forgotten the destination wedding of sons of the infamous Gupta brothers in Auli which left piles of garbage in Auli. On the intervention of the court the government conceded that it had to dispose of 320 tonnes of garbage generated in the marriage ceremony of Gupta brothers' family.
