The Uttarakhand unit of Congress party has demanded that the union government should provide an economic package to Uttarakhand to compensate for Char Dham Yatra loss this year. Talking to the media persons at the headquarters of the state unit of the party on Sunday, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Pritam Singh said that the Char Dham Yatra which operates for six months in a year is the backbone of the economy of the mountainous areas of the state and this year the Yatra would be affected severely by the threat posed by the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). He said that those who are directly linked with Yatra like taxi and maxi operators, drivers, small shopkeepers and hotel owners are staring at uncertain future. Similarly the unseasonal rains and hailstorms in the state have ruined the crops completely. “The Uttarakhand government should demand an economic package from the union government. An economic package helped in the state in coming out of the disaster in the year 2013,’’ he said. The PCC president also demanded that the pending dues of the sugarcane farmers should be cleared. He criticized the state government for toeing the guidelines issued by the central government blindly on COVID-19 and not applying its mind. “It appears that the state government waits for the guidelines of central government COVID-19 and it doesn’t bother to make any changes in them as per the local requirements. The state government is like Kumbhkarn that sleeps for six months,’’ he quipped. On the BJP’s accusation that the PCC president of Uttarakhand has stuck upon Gujarat, Pritam Singh said that he is raising the issue of sending 1800 people of Gujarat back to their home state during lockdown because it shows the selective approach of government. He said that the state government showed a proactive approach in sending people of Gujarat back but took no initiative to send people of other states stranded in Uttarakhand to their respective states or ensure return of people of Uttarakhand stranded elsewhere.