Ajay Tamta convenes meetings of senior bureaucrats for Uttarakhand’s development

A trend is gaining ground in Uttarakhand that its politicians at the helm of affairs like the chief minister and minister at the centre hailing from Uttarakhand are now endeavoring to seek the knowledge and expertise support from the Uttarakhand origin bureaucrats and senior officers working at the centre and in the states so as to ensure their active participation in the development of the 17 year old state.

Though the general perception about the people, intellectuals and media of Uttarakhand is that the state has despite witnessing development has failed on several fronts thus not able to deliver during the last more than one and a half decade. However, despite a whopping fiscal deficit of about 42 thousand crores and migration of 32 lakh people in the absense of the decentralised socio economic development a recent report of the Niti Ayog etc has painted a very rosy picture of the state recognising it touching develoomental heights on various fronts including the per capita income going to 1 lakh 42 thousand quite ahead of many developed states.

However, the report despite having been claimed as extremely authentic could not prove successful in convincing the general masses of the grass roots who are still devoid of good education, basic health facilities, agricultural upgradation and employment avenues. On several other fronts like industrial and agricultural development the state still lacks behind despite the rosy pictures of the central agency’s report. There had been voices raised time and again that the successive governments have never taken the experts, specialists, scientists, bureaucrats and technological hands of Uttarakhand working elsewhere to shape the destiny of the Himalayan state.

As such now a trend is on the move under which the state chief minister, MPs anf minister at the centre from Uttarakhand are calling meetings of such personalities and seriously deliberating on variius aspects of the develooment of the hill state. Recently two weeks ago the state chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has convened an ostentacious even at his official residence in Dehradun in which several luminiaries like PM’s Secretary Mr. Khulbe, Chairman Railway Board Ashwani Lohani, Coast Guard Chief Rajendra Singh, the Chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification Punya Prasun Joshi, the India Army Chief General Vipin Rawat and several other senior bureaucrats participated and addressed the august gathering accquainting them of their pivotal views and suggestions as to how could the 17 year old state prosper economically and migration from villages to cities stopped forthwith.

Similarly, today the union minister of state for textiles Ajay Tamta and the former Chief minister of Uttarakhand Bhagat Singh Koshiyari convened a meeting of the senior bureaucrats and experts at his official residence 1, Jantar Mantar Road and deliberated upon various burning issues of significance pertaining to Uttarakhand’s development. The Secretary to Prime Minister Modi Bhaskar Khulbe presided over the meet. The meeting which laster for more than two hours deliberated in depth and resolved to meet repeatedly with more participation of senior officers, experts of various fields and bureaucrats whose valuable suggestions and inputs can help in the over all development of the state and improving the lot of the people through socio economic, agricultural, industrial development and providing employment to the educated and illeterate youth including improvisibg the lot of women who is the most suffering section of the society. While the initiatives of UK CM Trivendra Rawat , union minister Ajay Tamta and member of Parliament Ajay Tamta deserves to be lauded and complimented but it still remains to be seen whether such parleys and interactions really accompany fruits of development and employment generation to the Himalayan state or just used to derive political benefit for their governments at the centre and the state.

However, let’s hope for the best and be positive to foresee constructive credible outcomes of such moves. RAIBAAR though a great event was criticized by the media of Uttarakhand terming it as an ostantacious show organised to derive merely political advantage for the party and the government as bureaucrats in the ruling party at the centre were called and prominent social, sr journalists, thinkers, social scientists and environmentalists of repute having diverse but healthy views on the subject that dosen’t suit the state government were pre strategically left out revealed the sources. What do you say friends?

SUNIL NEGI