UTTARAKHAND

The Pushkar Singh Dhami government completed one year in office and on the occasion, the CM made 16 announcements, which included a 50 % DISCOUNT on transportation rates to candidates appearing in competitive exams.

M said, “We will start Computer and Information Technology Education in government schools from class 6. Lab on wheels – mobile laboratories – service would be started in all 13 districts to ensure the best possible education facilities for students in far-flung areas.Uttarakhandwill be developed as the State Science Technology and Information Technology Corridor.

Under the Mukhkya Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, the government aims to connect villages – with a Population of 250 – to main areas through roads. Besides, Dhami also announced the Chief Minister’s Scheme, Chief Minister’s State Livestock Mission and Chief Minister Skill development and EMPLOYMENT Scheme to benefit different sections of Society.

Uttarakhand policechallaned 6,92,000 vehicles and earned Rs 37.89 crore in 2022, according to information provided by the Police headquarters to Right To Information activist Nadeem Uddin.

Uttarakhand, about the vehiclechallansissued by the police last year and the fines collected. The City Patrol Unit (CPU) issued 1.05 lakh challans worth Rs 3.65 crore, while other police departments challaned 5.87 lakh vehicles and earned Rs 34.24 crores. Among the challans made by theCPU, a maximum of 36,000 challans have been issued by the units of Dehradun and fines worth Rs 1.09 crore have been recovered, followed by Udham Singh Nagar district with 29, 400 challans and fines worth Rs 93 lakh.

Releasing a detailed analytical report on Uttarakhand’s performance in the Swachh Survekshan 2021 (SS21), the Social Development for Communities (SDC) Foundation articulated that the state has performed poorly at the national level in the survey and (ULBs) must bring systematic changes in Waste Management to improve the rankings in SS22 and tackle other upcoming waste-centric challenges in future.

According to the report, the general performance of the state in various categories like Citizens Voice, Service Level Progress, Garbage Free Cities and Open Defecation Free (ODF) are far lower than the national Average. Uttarakhand got 1,531 scores out of 6,000 points in SS21 and the national average score is 2,072 that clearly shows the states overall poor performance in the survey at the national level. The report mentioned that though Dehradun has become the first city in the state with 82nd position to rank in the top 100 cities in the 1-10 lakh Population category, it should be noted that this position was achieved only amongst 369 cities and not amongst 4,320 cities that participated in SS21. Dehradun ranked 375 amongst these 4,320 cities. Such misunderstandings must not mislead people about the current sanitation situation of the cities across the state as it can be fatal for future sanitation efforts.

According to the report, the state generates annual waste of over 125 crore kilogramme excluding the waste generated by pilgrims and tourists and this quantity will certainly increase with the increasing footfalls of tourists when the projects like Delhi Dehradun economic corridor and the Char Dham All weather Road will get completed. According to the recommendations in the report, the ULBs first need to address the shortcomings found in SS21 and make efforts to improve the conditions irrespective of rankings attained in the survey. The administration should also implement policies like Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and tourism policy to facilitate waste management besides adopting sustainable waste management practices as the current system is inefficient and poses a consistent risk to public Health, the Environment and the economy.

The State cabinet granted its approval to various proposals in the meeting presided over by chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. In one of the major decisions taken in the meeting, the cabinet approved the proposal to fix the term for life imprisonment to 14 years. The incarceration period for life imprisonment in the State at present is 14 to 16 years for Women and 16 to 18 years for men. A total of 18 points were taken up in the agenda of the cabinet meeting. In another decision, the cabinet granted its approval to the supplementary budget of Rs 4,867 crore to be tabled in the coming Vidhan Sabha sessionfor this year.

Among the other decisions taken in the cabinet meeting, the stamp duty on pine resin collection was reduced from five per cent to two per cent. The cabinet also gave its nod to construction of green building at the old Roadways workshop in the provisional State capital under the Dehradun Smart City project. Further, the cabinet also approved the proposal for transferring the land of ISBT and leased Roadways workshop land to the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation to enable the corporation to secure a loan. The cabinet also gave its assent to the proposal for reorganisation of the Peyjal Nigams organisational structure. The reimbursement under Right To Education for students in private schools will be raised from Rs 1,393 to Rs 1,850. The cabinet further granted its approval to the rehabilitation policy for the Song river dam project.

The Uttarakhand Police also features in the 10 lowest ranking states under the ‘Integrity and Corruption-free service’ category with 19th position in the country. The state police have also scored Average points in the categories of ‘public trust in the police’ and ‘fair, unbiased and lawful policing’- 6.83 and 6.33 scores with 14th and 16th ranks respectively. Uttarakhand police achieved an overall rank of 15th in this national survey which was held from July 1 to September 15 and included a total of 29 states and union territories.

However the state police have also made it to the list of top 10 states in three categories- perception score of technology adoption, accessibility and police sensitivity with 6.98 scores, 7.35 scores and 7.0 scores respectively.

According to the survey report released by IPF, Uttarakhand police ranked 27 in category of ‘perception score of accountability’ of police followed by Nagaland and Uttar Pradesh. Bihar Police which has lowest overall index score in country also have a higher ranking than Uttarakhand police under this category.

None of the 71 legislators 70 elected and 1 nominated of the Uttarakhand assembly have been able to spend the entire amount of the MLA Local Area Development (MLALAD) fund they were allotted between 2017 and September 2021, reveals response to an RTI query.

The rural development department, in response to the RTI query filed by Kashipur-based activist Nadeemuddin, has also disclosed that a cumulative amount of Rs 1,256.50 crore was allotted to the 71 legislators during the aforementioned period under MLALAD funds. The fund was equally distributed and each legislator was allotted Rs 17.75 crore during the period.

Out of this cumulative amount, the legislators were able to use Rs 963 crore i.e 77% of the total amount. The remaining Rs 293 crore is yet to be spent on developmental projects.

Besides this, these high tech cameras will also be used in surveillance, enforcement of traffic rules and identifying traffic rules violators at the borders of the State.

Besides this, the department is also planning to install 10 ANPR cameras in Dehradun district as per the regional transport officer (enforcement) Sandeep Saini to ensure traffic laws enforcement and minimise road accidents.

Indias very best altitude herbal park has been inaugurated at Mana village in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand.

The herbal park is located at a height of 11,000 ft and is shut to the Indo-China border. Mana is the closest Indian village in Chamoli bordering China and is adjacent to Badrinath temple.

The herbal park has around forty species observed in excessive altitude alpine areas in the Himalayan region.

The major goal of this excessive altitude natural park is to preserve quite a number medicinally and culturally essential alpine species and to do lookup on their propagation and habitat ECOLOGY.

The park was developed on an area of three acres given by way of Mana Van Panchayat by means of the Research Wing of the Forest Department of Uttarakhand.

It has been developed in 3 years under the central governments Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) scheme.

Many species are listed as endangered and threatened as per red list as well as with the aid of the State Biodiversity Board. It consists of many necessary medicinal herbs also.