On New Year’s Eve, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat said he would stress on implementing the announcements made in 2014 in 2015 instead of dishing out fresh ones. “However, it does not mean we have no new things in store for the coming year. I have a host of them. However, my priority is to implement the pending ones,” he said.
There is a stern message lurking in what the CM said particularly for the State bureaucrats who are accountable for the execution of the announcements on the ground. He has made it a point that he would not desist from taking stringent actions against the errant officers if things so warrant. In what can be construed as a grim warning to the top cops, the CM asked police to apprehend presently fugitive Amit Kumar Bhura who managed to flee from police custody while being taken to Baghpat court in December last by hook or by crook or else be ready to face music.
Heads have already started rolling in the police hierarchy in the aftermath of the infamous escape with Dehradun SSP Ajay Rautela being replaced. Notably, Rautela was appointed Dehradun SSP a day after Harish Rawat became the Chief Minister. Sources said Uttarakhand Police DGP BS Sidhu might be the next to fall in the firing line. He is already in the thick of controversy over the issue of his possessing what is supposed to be forest land and felling trees there. Commenting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his achievements, the CM said that Modi is taking the people’s aspirations to utopian heights. Six months are, however, too short a time to sit in judgment on a regime’s performance. Quizzed further, he quipped, ‘’Modi is leading the nation to fly high’’.
Dwelling on his government’s achievements, Rawat said it had taken a slew of decisions in the interests of the people in 2014. These would yield long-term results, he claimed. The 2013 disaster crippled us economically. Now things are looking up. Char Dham Yatra recently launched would boost economy. The successful and safe conducts of Char Dham Yatra and Nanda Devi Raj Jat Yatra have conveyed a positive message across the globe that Uttarakhand is safe for all and sundry. The decisions we have taken in 2014 would benefit micro, small and medium scale industries envisaged as part of a special policy. These would widen range of self-employment opportunities for the State’s youth.
CM rejected outright the media reports that over 20 people have died across the State due to cold this season. There is only one such death. A woman died when she went out to bring her goat back in Chamoli district. Unfortunately she could not be traced despite the best efforts of the local teams. She was found dead amidst the snow. Another death- that of a poor man- in Haridwar district could well be attributed to cold as his house lacked adequate arrangements to beat the cold, Rawat said. The DM has been instructed to probe how the person died, he added.