Budget session of U'khand assembly begins

The budget session of Uttarakhand Assembly began today with the Governor's address to the House highlighting steps taken by the state government to rebuild lives in disaster-hit areas and streamline arrangements for the char dham yatra.
"In an extremely short span of time after the 2013 calamity, damaged roads and drinking water projects were repaired and power connectivity in affected areas was restored on a massive scale for early resumption and successful conduct of the char dham yatra," Governor K K Paul said in his address.
All damaged drinking water projects in affected areas have been re operationalised, death certificates for a majority of disaster victims from outside the state have been issued and compensations paid to their next of kin, he said.

He also spoke of the efforts still underway to rehabilitate flood-hit people including the ongoing construction of new houses for nearly 2,500 families that lost their homes and payment of Rs 3,000 to each of them per month for the time being to help them pay rent for their temporary residences.
The Governor underlined steps taken to increase the state's preparedness to deal with disasters by the constitution of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and setting up of Project Implementation Units to speed up reconstruction work in affected areas.
He also informed the House of the efforts initiated by the state government to strengthen the early warning system through a World Bank and ADB aided project and setting up of 25 DSPT phones in Pithoragarh, Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Bageshwar districts.

For the first time in many years the session of the state assembly began on a peaceful note with opposition members causing no disruption in the House during Governor's address.