In a bid to ensure overall development of the State, the State Government has constituted a 21-member policy planning group (PPG) with Chief Minister Harish Rawat as its head. The group will give recommendations to the State Government on how to increase revenue and how to execute public welfare schemes on the ground in the State. Its maiden meeting would be held in the last week of January this year. This was disclosed by the group convener and the former chief secretary Indu Kumar Pande in Dehradun on Tuesday.
While the Chief Minister is the chairman of the group the former chief secretary and advisor to the CM Indu Kumar Pande is the convener. There are 19 other members- the State Finance Minister Indira Hridayesh, former secretary Madhukar Gupta, former chief secretary RS Tolia, former VC of Kumaon University Dr BK Joshi, former VC of Govind Ballabh Pant University Dr BS Bisht, noted Economist Dr TS Papola, former Director National Rural Development Institute (NRDI), Hyderabad Dr BP Maithani, former professor, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Dr Harsh Singhal, former
VC of HNB Garhwal University Dr Aditya Narayay Purohit, former MP and freedom fighter Paripurnanand Painuli, former MP Pradeep Tamta, former Cabinet Minister Gen TPS Rawat, Environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt, folk singer Narendra Singh Negi, three former MlAs, Puran Singh Mahra, Kashi Singh Airy and Qazi Nizamuddin, Horticulture expert DP Uniyal and former Advocate General Uttarkhand Mehrawan Singh Negi. This aside, the state chief secretary and the additional chief secretary would be special invitees of the group.
It would be pertinent to mention here that Ramkrishna Hegde -led Karnataka Government had constituted such an advisory group and later Nitish Kumar Government in Bihar during his first term had gone for the same. Now, the Uttarakhand Government has followed in the footsteps of the two other states. It sets a great store by it, hoping that it would go a long way in helping the Government to firm up right strategies.
Talking to The Pioneer , convener Pande said that the group will advise on how to monitor and evaluate the long- term development policy. They would also advise on how the State can rope in Central and State- level institutions in the task of shaping a comprehensive strategy of development, he added.