With the announcement of allocations of various ministries in PM Modi’s cabinet, the expectations of residents of Haridwar from their MP and Union minister of Human Resource Development, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ have risen.
“Nishank has been member of various parliamentary committees and has a rich experience of having handled various positions in the state. PM Modi has rightly chosen him as the HRD minister. We hope, he would bring progress at much faster pace to this ancient city,” said a resident of Kankhal.
Speaking to this correspondent, entrepreneur Arun Saraswat said, “HRD mainly entails education. Nishank is an educationist so we as industrialists hope he will maintain Indian values and culture. As far as Haridwar is concerned, we expect speedy completion of pending road construction and overall development of the city. It was nominated for smart city so we see a ray of hope in that direction. We expect he will devote some time and concentrate on Haridwar like Modi did on his constituency Varanasi.”
While educationists wish to have more effective implementation of RTE Act with free quota for poor children some government school principals said that they want the process of fund allocation for uniform and books to be expedited. “Normally amount for students’ books and uniforms comes when they are about to pass out from their class. This needs to be fastened,” said principal of school number 28, Shewali.
A lot more needs to be done in the field of higher education said the Haridwar residents. Students mostly have to move to neighbouring cities for higher education and there must be more institutions for vocational education.