First session of Uttarakhand’s newly-elected Assembly begins

Dehradun: The first session of Uttarakhand’s newly-elected Assembly began here on Tuesday with Governor Lieutenant General (retired) Gurmit Singh’s address to the House summing up the steps taken for the state’s development during the current financial year and spelling out the development goals for the next fiscal.

Describing the improvement of health facilities as the state government’s top priority, Singh spoke about the steps being taken to strengthen hospitals and increase the availability of doctors. A total of 403 doctors have been selected under the Provincial Medical Health Service cadre, X-ray technicians have been deployed in remote areas and the process of filling vacancies for 40 dental hygienists is underway, he said, adding that an in-principle approval has also been given to upgrade the community health centers of Someshwar in Almora district and Raipur in Dehradun district into 100-bed hospitals.

Maternal and child health services are also improving in the state as a result of the government’s efforts, Singh said.

Under the Mukhyamantri Anchal Amrit Yojana, 2.56 lakh children aged 3-6 years coming to the Anganwadi centers are being provided milk for four days a week, he added.

The governor also made a special mention of the Mukhyamantri Vatsalya Yojana, under which children who lost their parents or guardians to COVID-19 are to be paid a monthly allowance of Rs 3,000 up to the age of 21.

Talking about the innovations and experiments being made in the field of education, Singh said 189 Atal Utkrisht Government Secondary schools conceived as model schools have been made operational, besides the establishment of 14 new government colleges and money distributed among the students of government colleges through direct benefit transfer for buying tablet computers.

Villages with over 50 percent of the Scheduled Caste (SC) population have been selected for re-development under the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana.

The pension amount for former soldiers who fought in World War II and their widows has been increased from Rs 8,000 per month to Rs 10,000 and a martyrs’ memorial is being built at Guniyalgaon in Dehradun with the soil collected from the courtyards of soldiers who died fighting for the country, the governor said.

Praising the state government for its endeavours in the field of air connectivity, he said the Uttarakhand civil aviation department was given an award under the ”Most Proactive State” category for successfully conducting the Regional Connectivity Scheme, under which heliports are being constructed at identified spots throughout the state for helicopter services.

The governor highlighted the steps being taken to create better disaster management facilities in the state such as early warning systems and doppler radars being installed for floods and other disaster alerts.

The doppler radar installed at Mukteshwar in Nainital district has begun operating successfully, while work is underway for installing a doppler radar each in Surkanda and Lansdowne, he said.

”I have tried to sum up the development initiatives taken by our government in the last financial year and the ones in the pipeline during the next. The government is committed to work with dedication to achieve its goals. We will make efforts to maintain social harmony so that all sections of the society live in peace with each other,” Singh said.