Expressing his good wishes to the people of Uttarakhand on the eve of the State foundation day, the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat elicited focus on a young Uttarakhand and a strong commitment.
Stating his views on his blog, the CM stated that entering its 18th year, Uttarakhand is entering an age when a person is considered a youth.
“There are many challenges at such a time but the youth also have the spirit to turn challenges into opportunities. Much has been achieved in the past 17 years, but a lot more has to be achieved to build the Uttarakhand of our dreams.
Our state is full of opportunities with immense scope for tourism and wealth of forest and water resources. We are committed to building a new Uttarakhand.”
Rawat opined that there is no dearth of talent in the State with natives of Uttarakhand presently working in various important positions. He recalled that many such personalities were involved in deliberations on the State during the Raibar programme held on November 5 and various suggestions had been received from them.
Stressing on the importance of public feedback, the Chief Minister said that the Government is seriously considering these suggestions with work also being started on various suggestions. Referring to the suggestions he states that special focus will have to be laid on skill development for swift development of the State.
Work will have to be done accordingly after mapping at the district level based on local requirements.
Hospitality services should be developed in the state with focus on sustainable and balanced tourism.
The State will have to be developed into an education hub and colleges will have to be opened in the mountainous regions to boost higher education.
For encouraging tourism, hill stations will have to be developed according to a master plan and connectivity will have to be enhanced.
Home stay scheme should be encouraged with a focus on incorporating cultural and native aspects to balance tourism. Mountain biking should be promoted for boosting adventure tourism. For enhancing level of sanitation, the State of the provisional state capital should be improved and it should be developed into a world class town. To tackle the problem of migration, employment should be generated in the mountainous regions along with which human resources and basic facilities should also be developed in such areas. Focus should be laid on education and health services- the major reasons for migration.
Further, sustainable development should be adopted along with environmental conservation for mitigating migration. Special attention should also be given to development in border villages and maintaining the population in such areas.
For the welfare of farmers, their production cost should go down and seeds, power, water and manure should be made available to them at cheap rates.
Organic produce should also be encouraged in the state. Further, attention should also be given to the branding of the agricultural produce. In the infrastructural sphere, roads, helipads and air services should be improved. Focus should be laid on road, rail and air connectivity. Uttarakhand should also have its development model akin to the development models adopted in Taiwan, Singapore and Dubai.
The state should be developed on the basis of electricity, education, employment and internet.