13-years-old Uttarakhand has moved toward towards development. But, we do not have to become complacent. There is a lot more we have to achieve,” said the Chief Minister, Vijay Bahuguna while addressing the gathering at the Gorkha Military Inter College, Dehradun on Saturday on the 13th Anniversary of the State’s 14th foundation formation at the launch of the book Samaveshi Vikas Ki ore badhtey kadam—Milkar Gadhenge naya Uttarakhand published by the Information & PR Department of the State.
It was their privilege that that they had got a chance to serve the nation. In the past few years, the State had witnessed overall development. The people of the State would have to be convinced that the benefit of this development would reach out to border areas, women, youth, SCs and STs. The people of Uttarakhand were peace loving, educated, aware and had a lot of self respect. During the disaster, the local people helped the pilgrims despite their own problems. The entire nation appreciated the collective efforts of the local residents, State administration, police, army, air force, ITBP, NDRF and officers who came forward to help despite extreme conditions.
Extending gratitude to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the CM said that the State Government had always received support from them. A vision was needed to move ahead. The base for the State was laid during the times of Chief Minister ND Tiwari. Several big projects were planned and implemented.
He urged the media to bring forward the shortcomings in the implementation of the development schemes at the grassroots level, so that the Government could remove these and benefit the people. He expressed confidence that the State was beginning to emerge from the impact of the recent disaster.
The State will be developed keeping the balance between development and environment in mind, he declared. Help would be taken from the GSI, ASI and scientists in this task. The CM assured that the State once again would move towards development. Prior to this the CM felicitated three sports stars for their achievements on behalf of the sports department.
The famous shooter Jaspal Rana was awarded the Devbhoomi Uttarakhand Khel Ratna Award. He was felicitated with Rs 5 lakh and a memento. Hari Singh Thapa was awarded the Devbhoomi Uttarakhand Dronacharya Samman award. He was also given Rs 3 lakh along with a memento but his award was received by his son Chandra Singh Thapa. Padam Bahadur Mall was felicitated with the lifetime Achievement Award. He was given an amount of Rs 5 lakh. The CM gave Rs 5 lakh to athlete Gurmeet Singh for his preparations for the Brazil Olympics.
Other dignitaries including state congress assistance in charge Sanjay Kapur, Cabinet Ministers Dinesh Aggarwal, Harish chandra Durgapal, MlAs Subodh Uniyal, Kunwar Pranav Singh ‘Champion’, Rajkumar, congress leader Saket Bahuguna, Suryakant Dhasmana, Chairman, Minorities Commission, Narendra Jeet Singh Bindra, Secretary, Information, Vinod Fonia, Secretary Disaster Bhaskaranand, Director General Information R Meenakshi Sundaram, Additional Secretary to CM RC lohani, Dehradun DM BVRC Purushottam, Additional Secretary Kishanath, Additional Director information Anil Chandola, Joint Director Rajesh Kumar.