Chief Minister Harish Rawat has strongly condemned the Opposition allegation that District Panchayat member Meena Devi was kidnapped by the ruling party activists and that police did not act on the police complaint lodged by her husband on the matter.
To buttress his claim, CM cited Meena having submitted a petition before the High Court on August 4 wherein she had demanded police protection for discharging her democratic right. "By making such concocted statement, the Opposition has proved themselves to be immature," he said.
"Interestingly, she had appeared before the court along with her family members and demanded police protection to cast her vote in District Panchayat president's election. Had she been kidnapped, she would have told the court as much, but she did not do so. It means she was not kidnapped. She was produced before the court by the police. She further said that she was in touch with her husband over phone. Now, it is clear that the charge that the Opposition and the leader of Opposition have made is nothing less than a bunch of lies," he added.
Congress had won the seat by three votes. Replying to the media queries, CM Rawat categorically said that media is airing irresponsible news to defame the ruling party. "Now the picture is before you," he said, addressing the common people.
He also said that he is against making statement on the comment of the Opposition. "This is because I believe that it is Opposition's right to criticise the state government. Now they are trying to malign the image of the State Government by hurling false charges before the media and this is what has warranted my intervention," Chief Minister Harish Rawat said.
Talking about farmers' pension, which is set to be launched by August 15, CM Harish Rawat said that they champion the cause of the small farmers. "If he is above 60 and cultivating two acres of land he would be entitled to get the farmers' pension. Initially we have been short-listing 100 farmers from each of the 12 districts of the State," he said.
"By promoting them, we want to save our hills as well. Due to unused land, water is not percolating. If this state of things continues no water would be available in the state.
Earlier spring (water flow) was found in every nook and corner of the hills, but now they have dried up. Now we want to revive our springs through this way," the CM said. "As for the protection of the standing crops from the wild animals, the state government has launched CM Deewar Suraksha Yojna (chief minister wall security scheme). Currently, we have built CMDSY in 25 villages. Its execution cost is pegged at Rs nine lakh per kilometer. For this, we are going to approach NABARD for financial help," he added.
Replying to the media query about poor condition of infrastructure on way to Nanda Devi Raj jat Yatra, CM Harish Rawat said that they have deployed more that 40 JCB at Baan on way to the yatra. "It is true that the roads are getting damaged due to heavy rains, but it is a natural phenomenon of the hills. To cope up with the situation, we have made all sorts of arrangements. However, we cannot claim that we would provide such facilities round the clock," he said.
"One thing is clear that we would repair the road immediately after it is damaged because a full- fledged system is in place there. Besides, we have also asked the officials to improve the mobile connectivity system so they can keep in touch with the private mobile companies. We have also decided to provide them satellite phone so that they would be in touch with the department concerned during the yatra," he added.
CM has also appealed to the Government employees not to go astray while staging stirs. "We respect your right but you should protest in a legal way. With the seventh pay commission having already been constituted, we are trying to develop our resources to meet the expenses involving the implementation of the commission," the CM said.