Trivendra Singh Rawat Government has on Saturday appointed ministers- in- charge of all the 13 districts of the State. The decision has been taken in the wake of the opposition slamming the State Government for delaying on the important matter of the appointment of the ministers in-charge of the districts, saying that the state government was unable to announce names without the nod from the party high command.
Four Cabinet Ministers- Satpal Mahraj, Prakash Pant Madan Kaushik and Yashpal Arya- have been made in-charges of two districts each. Interestingly, Maharaj has been made in-charge of Chamoli and Haridwar districts where millions of pilgrims come all the year round particularly during the Char Dham yatra season. Madan Kaushik has been given charge of Dehradun and Uttarkashi districts which receives thousands of tourists aside from the pilgrims bound for char dhams with two of them- Gangotri and Yamunotri- being located in Uttarkashi district. Arya has been given charge of Pauri and Rudraprayag districts where pilgrims/ tourists throng on way to Kedarnath located in Rudraprayag district. Pauri is an important district from where three ministers, including a Minister of State, hail.
As per the official information, Prakash Pant has been given charge of Udham Singh Nagar and Bageshwar districts; Dr Harak Singh Rawat of Nainital district; Subodh Uniyal of Pithoragarh district; Arvind Pandey of Tehri district; Minister of State Rekha Arya of Champawat district and Dr Dhan Singh Rawat of Almora district.