Britain ready for help in rebuilding infrastructures in U'khand

Britain would also support hill state in higher and technical education as well as tourism development

Britain on Tuesday expressed its keen interest to help Uttarakhand in rebuilding its infrastructure facilities which were damaged in the June deluge.

British high commissioner to India Sir James Bevan called on state chief secretary Subhash Kumar at the secretariat here and also expressed his country’s interest to invest in education, tourism and other sectors in the state, an official statement said.

Sir Bevan told the chief secretary that some NGOs and financial institutions in Britain wanted to lend their help for the relief and reconstruction of infrastructure works in the hill state. Universities in the United Kingdom are also interested in launching specialised training programmes especially in English language for the teachers of Uttarakhand, he said.

Britain would also support the hill state in higher and technical education as well as tourism development, he said.

In this regard, top officials of the British high commission at New Delhi would travel to Uttarakhand next week to prepare a road map for the future plans.

Britain also appreciated the efforts launched by the state government in various relief and reconstruction activities.

During the interaction, Kumar told Sir Bevan that infrastructure facilities including roads and bridges to the tune of Rs 7000 crore have been damaged in the June floods and landslides. For this purpose, the state would get a special financial assistance of Rs 1500 crore from the World Bank, Rs 2000 crore from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Rs 1500 crore from the Planning Commission.   

Kumar also welcomed the British government’s interest in investing in the hill state saying the connectivity as well as power scenario was far better in the state.