Soon after attending the Kedarnath’s portal closing ceremony on Tuesday, the Chief Minister Harish Rawat trained his guns on the Centre for not clearing funds the Cabinet committee of the previous UPA Government had allotted for the State, post-2013 tragedy. “We wonder where the funds have gone. The Centre should clear things as confusion is prevailing in the state. The fount of the confusion are the statements of the leaders who claim that the funds have been released whereas the treasury is saying that they have received no such funds,” he said.
He cited the Centre having claimed that they would clear money to build an all -weather road in Uttarakhand, saying that he had no idea about the money having come to the state under the particular head. “Their intentions are becoming clear now,” he said.
Taking potshots at BJP, CM sarcastically said that the saffron party, out to abuse one and all, might not spare even God in the coming days.
“The state is not getting approved budget under swachh bharat mission (SBM) and Namami Gange. Despite proposing to provide the state a package of Rs 400 crore in ODF, they are choosing to sit on it, forcing the state to execute such projects with its limited resources,” Harish Rawat said.
Assuring the pilgrims coming on winter char dham yatra, CM said better things are in the offing for them. “We would soon announce a package for the pilgrims visiting Mukhwa and Pandukeshwar during the winter,” he said.
He hoped that the loktantra Bachao and Sanvidhan Bachao (save democracy and save democracy) yatra, to be launched by the state Congress soon, would evoke a warm response from the people.
Taking a dig at the Parivartan Yatra to be launched by the BJP national president Amit Shah on November 13, CM said that they had better take out a Prayshchit (penance) yatra for having cheated the nation as well as the state.
Making it clear that the relation between his party and the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) is all right, he said that the small trifles happening in the relation should not be blown out of propoprtions. “Such misunderstanding happens in a family too. We are united and things would remain so,” he averred.
Tearing into the defence minister Manohar Parrikar, CM said he deserved to be reprimanded for his partisan statement that a sainik school would come up in Peethsain, hallowed by the memory of the legendary Veerchandra Singh Garhwali, in case BJP was voted to power. “Such a statement amounts to a humiliation heaped on the soul of the legend,” CM added.