The newly-appointed Chief Minister Harish Rawat has categorically said that transparency would be his Government's motto and that the Government will execute his predecessor's announcements on ground. For this, he would convene a special Cabinet meeting after the Budget Session to finalise the priority in executing the old announcements. Rawat said that he would try his best to end the existing gap between the media and the Government. Organising the first Press conference at the Congress Bhawan, Rawat has managed to convey a message to their party workers that their Government would do everything to bridge the gap between Government and organisation.
Rawat said that transparency would be maintained in governance and also asked the media to be vigilant in highlighting even an iota of deviation occurred at any level.
Skirting the sea of media's questions, Rawat said that he is a mere eight-hour-old Chief Minister and asked the Press not to expect that he would answer all the queries related to the ongoing infighting within the Congress and the PDF. Clarifying his stand, Rawat said, "Nayi dulhan jab ghar aati hai to koi use kathin sawal nahin puchhta hai (No one makes a new bride uncomfortable by asking difficult questions). He said that he is going to console Independent MlA Dinesh Dhanai, who has been aggrieved since the declaration of Cabinet Ministers' names after party high command declared that Harish Rawat would be next chief minister of Uttarakhand. Replying to the query about the upcoming lok Sabha election, Rawat said that being a public representative, each election is a challenge and that he will take this too as a challenge.
He has sent a message that he is not going to make any new announcement and only old announcements will be executed on ground. "In this election, service factor will prevail only," he added. For this a special Cabinet meeting will be conducted and all announcements will be divided in three categories. For this, Finance Minister Indira Hridayesh has been requested to collect on ground situation data of the announcements.
Talking about restoration of Uttarakhand after the June-2013 natural calamity, CM Rawat said that the Cabinet has suggested him to divide the worst-affected areas into separate zones and appoint separate officers to supervise the restoration work. The officers will be allocated separate budget for which a separate Cabinet meeting will be convened on February 5.
To avoid any media anticipation, Rawat made it clear that the entire cabinet is remaining the same. The entire Congress Cabinet Ministers were sharing the dais with the Chief Minsiter during the Press conference. On property related crime, Rawat said that it is a serious issue and he will work on it. As far as uncontrolled bureaucracy is concerned, he would look into the matter.