On the final day of the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s Uttarakhand tour, the State Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat requested him to facilitate the establishment of one additional para military training institution and para military recruitment centre in Uttarakhand. Earlier, Singh offered his prayers at the Kedarnath shrine on Sunday morning.
Meeting the Union Home Minister, the Chief Minister said that the presence of serving and ex-servicemen is considerable in Uttarakhand. The natives of Uttarakhand, as courageous soldiers are diligently discharging their duties in the border areas, protecting the nation. Rawat said, “A major aim of the youth of Uttarakhand is to serve the nation, considering which if an additional para military training institution and para military recruitment centres are established in the State, the youth will have access to increased opportunities to join the army and Para Military forces.”
The Chief Minister also thanked the Union Home Minister for doubling of the Border Area Development Project (BADP) fund. He said that this will help in improving the pace of execution of developmental works in the border regions of the State which will in turn help in mitigating the problem of migration from such regions in the mountains.
While meeting the Union Home Minister, Rawat also brought his attention to the cases of Uttarakhand State, pending with the Ministry of Home Affairs.
In a letter submitted to the Union Home Minister, the Chief Minister said that for the State police force modernisation scheme 2017-18 costing Rs 457 lakh and Rs 91.40 lakh for supplementary works totalling to Rs 548.40 lakh had been approved by the State level empowered committee and had also received the approval in principle of the high powered committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs on August 17 this year.
However, despite this, the said amount has not yet been released in favour of the State Government. Rawat cited the comparatively limited sources of income in the young State of Uttarakhand, and its mountainous geography, adding that the due to this, the State has to pay Rs 130 crore to Central police forces for internal security.
The case for waiving off this payment from the State is also under consideration of the Ministry of Home Affairs. In addition to this, the Indian railways has to pay 50 per cent of the total amount for recharging of the Government railway police. The proposal for creation of 287 posts in the Government railway police is also pending with the MHA, said Rawat.
He further informed Singh that about 50 acre land of the Sampoornanand Shivir at Sitarganj in Udham Singh Nagar, which was valued at Rs 1.65 crore and transferred to the Border Security Force (BSF) had a primary school, barrack, cowshed, pump house, overhead tank, godown and two residential buildings, which after demolition were to be constructed through the BSF.
The cost of this construction is about Rs 88 lakh and this proposal too is pending with the Ministry.
Earlier, the Union Home Minister visited Kedarnath where he paid his obeisance at the shrine and also inspected the reconstruction works done there post the 2013 disaster.