Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat met Union Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley and discussed various issues of the State, in New Delhi on Friday. Rawat requested the Central Government to release Rs450 crore approved under Special Plan Assistance (SPA) and untied fund for reconstruction and rehabilitation works in the disaster affected areas of the State. Additionally, he also sought about Rs1,000 crore for the Ardh Kumbh to be held in Uttarakhand in 2016. Stating that after the June 2013 disaster the Central Government had provided a relaxation on various taxes, the CM requested the Finance Minister to extend this facility for the next three years in order to help the State recover economically from the disaster.
The Chief Minister said that the Government of India had approved SPA and untied fund amounts for the reconstruction and rehabilitation works in disaster affected areas but this has not been received by the State yet. He informed the Union Finance Minister that Rs350 crore had been approved under SPA and Rs100 crore had been approved in the form of untied fund. The State has marked projects under SPA and prepared detailed project reports on the same, he said, requesting Jaitley to facilitate swift release of the Rs350 crore under SPA to Uttarakhand. Similarly, the Central Government’s cabinet committee formed for Uttarakhand, had approved untied fund amounting to Rs100 crore for reconstruction of properties in the disaster affected areas and for facilitating special grant assistance to the disaster affected people.
For this too, the State Government has prepared the work plan and submitted it to the Central Government but so far the Centre has not released the said fund to the State. Rawat requested Jaitley to ensure that this amount is released to Uttarakhand soon.
Referring to the Ardh Kumbh Mela to be held at Haridwar in Uttarakhand in 2016, Rawat sought one-time release of about Rs1,000 crore to Uttarakhand.
The CM said that the State Government had started initial works for this Mela on its own. He said that the June 2013 disaster had damaged most of the infrastructure in the Mela area.
The State Government intends to develop permanent structures in the Kumbh Mela area so that these can be put to use in the long term.
later, the CM said that his meet with the Union minister had been positive with Jaitley assuring all possible support to Uttarakhand for reconstruction and rehabilitation in disaster affected areas and for the Ardh Kumbh Mela.