Assembly session ends, MLAs resolve to meet next in Gairsain

GAIRSAIN (CHAMOLI): The last session of the third Uttarakhand assembly which began here on Thursday concluded successfully after Speaker GS Kunjwal adjourned the House indefinitely. The assembly also unanimously passed a resolution seeking Rs 1,000 crore from the Centre for infrastructural construction in Gairsain, as chief minister Harish Rawat underlined his government’s commitment in granting the remote hill town the status of a permanent capital.
Addressing the assembly, Rawat said, “Gairsain is not just a political slogan for us. We are trying to develop suitable infrastructure in Gairsain in keeping with the sentiments associated with the place and trying to build a consensus over the vexed issue of granting it the status of a permanent capital.” The CM said he will hold the budget session of the 4th assembly in Gairsain if his government was voted to power in 2017.
Gairsain is an emotive issue in the state, with Uttarakhand Kranti Dal which spearheaded the statehood agitation in the 1990s being in favour of the hill town in Chamoli district being declared permanent capital.
With opposition BJP staging a walkout in the House to mount pressure on the ruling dispensation to shed its ambivalence over permanent capital status to Gairsain, Rawat said the state government wanted overall development of the town with maximum connectivity besides availability of power and water.
He also said if steps were taken immediately after the formation of the state towards making a permanent capital in accordance with the aspirations of statehood agitators, things would have been easier.
“At the time when the state was created, locating the capital anywhere with far shabbier infrastructure would not have raised eyebrows but so much has changed since then. Now we need suitable infrastructure. We are working on a plan to develop a better township in Gairsain,” the chief minister said.
He added that road connectivity is being improved and the airstrip in Gauchar is also being upgraded to make it suitable for large-bodied aeroplanes. There is also a proposal for a new airport at Ramdeval in Chaukhutia, he said.
The House also passed a resolution that exchange of old currency notes be allowed in district cooperative banks, saying it would ameliorate the hardship of people, especially of farmers. Moving a resolution to this effect in the House, state revenue minister Yashpal Arya said, “Farmers and people in general should be allowed to exchange demonetised high value currency notes also in cooperative banks and other cooperative institutions. This will minimise their difficulties.”
State road transport minister Nav Prabhat also seconded Arya’s views and the resolution was passed by the House.
The House also passed 21 amendment and other bills, including supplementary budget of over Rs 1,500 crore.