Chief Minister Harish Rawat while unveiling a magazine here on Saturday said when Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh nobody had imagined that the State would have its own medical college. But now the State was the proud onwer of two Government medical colleges. Two more medical colleges were coming up; two were in the pipeline and two more might come in the pipeline shortly, he announced.
He also said the Government had laid emphasis on eco-tourism to blend tourism with forestry. Defending his Government that drew flak for having omitted tourism from the contents of the Governor’s speech, Rawat said the Centre having no definite view of tourism had made them to keep the sector out of the speech. Tourism with our roadmap to re-jig things would figure prominently in the State Budget that would be presented on Monday.
He said Information department, which had compiled Nai disha ki or-Apna Uttarakhand has detailed information about tourism. Rawat said in a democracy Government was answerable to the people. The Government had sought to devise a system where accountability was more systematic. His Government had taken few decisions and was now working on a structured set- up, he added. “My Government has carved an identity in the field of technical and higher education. We have taken a host of steps to boost eco-tourism and several important steps have been taken in the field of tourism,” he added.
“The work executed by the Government in the field of disaster management was commendable. Other States had also benefited through this, ...We have not just increased the pension amount but have increased the number of beneficiaries. We are also working to mitigate income discrepancy among the people,” he claimed.
He further said the schemes introduced by the Government would yield results on the ground in the next two years. The Government was trying to touch all aspects of development. They believed in team spirit and so they sought to involve everyone. For the next two years, the Government would be focusing on Government education, social pension and cottage industries. Its result will also be evident, the Chief Minister said.
During unveiling ceremony of the magazine Cabinet Minister Dr Harak Singh Rawat, Dinesh Agarwal, HC Durgapal, MlA Shailrani Rawat, Prof Jeetram, Rajkumar, Manoj Tiwari, Hemesh Kharkwal, PCC Chief Kishore Upadhaya, Chief Secretary N Ravishankar, Additional CS S Raju, Secretary Urban Development DS Gabryal. Secretary Information Mohommad Shahid and DM Ravinath Raman among others were present there.