People celebrated the 14th Foundation Day of Uttarakhand in different parts of the Kumaon region on Sunday, paying tribute to the martyrs of the Uttarakhand statehood movement.
Schoolchildren presented variety of cultural progammes to mark the occasion. Besides, sports competitions were also organised on this occasion in different parts of the region. Paying tributes to the martyrs in Udham Singh Nagar, State School Education Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani, said that we got Uttarakhand as a State only after sacrifice of the martyrs and activists of the statehood movement. Therefore it is the duty of all of us to work hard to fulfil the dream of the martyrs of the statehood movement.
“The State Government is committed to ensure all round development of the State. The Government has introduced a lot of schemes for the welfare of the people of the State. Therefore, we have to continue to work for the development of the hill State rising above party politics,” State School Education Minister added.
There are a lot of natural resources in Uttarakhand. If we utilise the existing natural resources better, the State can become self-reliant in many areas. We have achieved success in many fields after creation of the hill State. But there are still a lot of challenges which we have to face collectively for the welfare of the people of the State, he added. People also remembered martyrs of Uttarakhand movement in Nainital. Many programmes were organised by district administration in the lake city to mark this occasion and floral tributes were paid to the statehood martyrs by the citizens including public representatives.
later MlA from Nainital Assembly constituency Sarita Arya and chairman of the Nainital municipal council, Shayam Narayan, also inaugurated a development exhibition at the Flats Ground in the lake city on this occasion to make the people aware about different popular schemes. Similar prgorammes were also held in other districts of the Kumaon division including, Almora, Champawat, Bages-hwar, and Pithoragah to remember the martyrs.