U'Khand govt to form development corporations for backward

Area Development Corporations will be formed for the development of backward parts of Uttarakhand, chief minister Harish Rawat today said.
The first such corporation will be formed for the Garh area of Haridwar district, which comprises Bahadrabad, Bhagwanpur and near by areas.
Haridwar District Magistrate and chief development officer will be the president and vice president of the corporation respectively. Initially, it will be provided Rs 5 crore, the CM said.
"In first of its kind experiment in the state, backward areas will be brought into the main stream of development in the state. For this a proposal will also be placed before the cabinet meeting, " Rawat said here.

Degradation of farming areas is the main cause of backwardness in Garh, he said.
The decision to form the development corporation for Garh has been taken on the recommendation of an internal committee of the state government, he said.

The chief minister also announced to give Rs 2/per quintal bonus for sugarcane farmers. The bonus will be distributed through farmers' associations.
About the poor condition of private sugar mills, he said state cooperative banks have been asked to provide special loans to them.
Private sugar mills still owed Rs 52 crores to farmers, out of which state government would provide Rs 24 crores as subsidy, he said.

He said the government has decided to widen the scope of its scheme 'Mera Gaon, Meeri Sadak (My village, my road)' for linking villages to main roads.
Under this all MLAs and MPs would assist from their Local Area Development funds scheme. The government would provide rest of the 60 percent funds.
Rawat said that he had met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and sought assistance of 500 crores rupees for next year's Ardh Kumbh preparations.