The State Government will send an application to the NITI Aayog for making Balganga area of Tehri district a development block. Further, the organisation of the historical Guru Kailapeer Devta Bagwal Balraj Mela would be taken over by the Government, announced Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat. He was speaking at the concluding day of this folk fair at Budha Kedar area of Tehri district on Sunday.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister also announced construction of ‘Sangam Astha Path’ at a cost of Rs 1.32 crore, operation of roadways buses in the area, survey of Bhatwari- Budha Kedar road and taking over of Balganga college by the state government .
Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Rawat said that the State Government is making special efforts for the development of the far off places and a plan for the development of Budha Kedar area will also be formulated. He said that investors from India and abroad had pledged to invest Rs 1,25,000 crore in Uttarakhand during the ‘Investors Summit’ held at Dehradun earlier in October. Out of this sum, about Rs 23,000 crore will be invested in the mountainous regions.
He said that several agreements have been done to promote tourism activities at Tehri reservoir and some more are in the pipeline. He said that if some big institutions come forward to invest near Tehri reservoir then the possibilities of home stay facilities in the area will also increase.
Giving information about possibilities of employment opportunities from pine needles, Rawat said that with commercial use of pine trees, bio-diesel, turpentine oil, tar coal and power generation from its residue will be done. He said that such experiments are being carried out in Pithoragarh. The Chief Minister said that since there is lot of Pirul (dry pine needle) in Tehri, the women can organise themselves in to self-help groups and can become in income generation related activities based on the pine needles for which the Government could provide training to them.
He said that the State Government is formulating a scheme to purchase Pirul and leaves of Devdar trees. Apart from gas, the leaves could be used as a fuel. He said that 150 MW of power could be generated from Pirul in the state. He also encouraged farmers to breed trouts and cultivate Damask rose. The Tehri MP Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah also expressed her views on the occasion. Local public representatives and members of the public were also among those present on the occasion.