As part of the celebration of traditional Jhumelo and Harela festivals, the Pradesh Congress Committee has set a target of planting about one lakh trees in the State by August 15. PCC chief Kishore Upadhyay said this while addressing the media in Dehradun on Thursday.
The PCC chief commended chief minister Harish Rawat for taking the initiative of organizing elaborate events to mark the Harela festival. He said, “We have already sent saplings of mango, guava and citrus fruits for plantation to various parts of the state to mark Harela. We have set a target of planting one lakh saplings but are confident that we will be able to plant more than the target number by August 15. We will not just plant saplings but will also protect them and check on their growth every year,” said Upadhyay.
The PCC chief said that the chief minister did not attend the recent meeting of the NITI Aayog sub group of chief ministers as the main agenda of the meeting was the land ordinance brought by the NDA government. He said, “What was the need for bringing out this ordinance when the land bill was passed unanimously during the term of the UPA at the CentreIJ The CM did not attend the meeting because the ordinance is against the interest of farmers. Another point I would like to point out that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Gujarat chief minister and the CM was the then union minister of state for Water Resources, the Gujarat CM had attempted to get proposals worth Rs 40,000 crore approved by the ministry. However, Rawat had sent these proposals back due to some shortcomings in them. The cuts in central funding and change in the funding pattern which Uttarakhand is now facing could be Modi’s way of retaliating for his past experience. I appreciate BJP MP Bhagat Singh Koshyari for raising the issue of problems being faced by Uttarakhand due to the change in central funding pattern and would again urge all the MPs to raise this issue with the Centre.”
Regarding the BJP claim that two cabinet ministers are being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate, Upadhyay refuted any such developments and said that the BJP should withdraw this statement and apologise to the public.