Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Tuesday said the sentiment at the root of the statehood movement was to take development to the hills and the state government honoured it from the very outset by according top priority to development of hilly areas.
In his message to the people of the state on the completion of three years of his tenure on Tuesday, Rawat said when he took over he felt that the sentiment of taking development to the hills, which motivated people to fight for statehood, had been put on the backburner.
"Ever since we took over we kept development of the hilly areas on top of our priorities to honour that sentiment," he said.
Describing Gairsain as a symbol of that sentiment, Rawat said the recent assembly session there was historic because of the announcement that the hill town in Chamoli district was being made the summer capital of the state.
He said the decision to make Gairsain the summer capital of Uttarakhand was dedicated to the mothers and sisters who fought for statehood.
The chief minister said the state government had fulfilled 70 per cent of the promises made to the people of the state in the first three years of its tenure.
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"We had made some promises (at the time of polls). Today I can confidently say we have fulfilled 70 per cent of them already. We are committed to fulfil 100 per cent of them. We believe in action. The last three years were dedicated to development. Talk less and work more has been our motto," he said.
With the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and active support of the Centre so much has been done in the last three years which seemed impossible earlier, he said.
Projects worth over Rs one lakh crore have been sanctioned for the state and work is expeditiously underway on many of them. The impact of a double engine government can be seen on the ground, Rawat said.
The chief minister said work is in progress on various projects including Rishikesh-Karnaprayag rail link, the chardham all weather road, Kedarpuri reconstruction, Bharatmala, Jamrani multi-purpose project, Namami Gange and Smart City projects.
Rawat also spoke about the big push given to investments in the last three years which also saw well planned endeavours towards encouraging reverse migration to hills.
"The hilly areas were kept at the centre of MSME. Rural Development and Migration Commission was constituted," he said.
Many bold decisions have been taken in public interest during the last three years, he said, adding that setting up the Chardham Devasthanam Board to run the affairs of 51 temples, a transfer act and institutional reforms were examples of this.
"Zero tolerance to corruption and good governance are the foundations of our policies. We haven't allowed corrupt and mafia elements to get close to the corridors of power. We have taken care of every section of the society. We have made honest efforts towards taking development to the last man on the street," he said.
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