Former Prime Minister of India - Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Press Release Nainital, 30th March 2002

The Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee arrived in Nainital on 28th March, 2002 on his first visit to this beautiful hill station after Uttaranchal was formed and acquainted himself with various developments taking place in the state. Shri Narayan Datt Tiwari, Chief Minister of Uttaranchal and a state BJP delegation led by Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari, former Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly and Shri Bachi Singh Rawat, Union Minister of State called on the Prime Minister in these three days. They held extensive discussions on a large number of issues concerning the development of the state and the challenges faced by the people. These included:

Rehabilitation of project-affected population of Tehri Dam.

The need to provide additional assistance to finance state’s Annual Plan

Rapid industrial development to generate employment and resources

Development and conservation of lakes in Nainital district

Development of pilgrim circuit comprising of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri.

Relaxation of norms for implementation of various rural development projects

The Prime Minister shared the concern of the state government and the leaders about the need for a concerted action for a solution of these problems and announced the following:

* The state government’s proposal for increase in cash component rehabilitation to the Tehri project affected population to Rs. 5 lakhs will be accepted. This will involve additional payment of Rs. 15 crores.

* The Centre has already given Rs. 550 crores as Special Plan Assistance to the state in the last Annual Plan. Taking into consideration the resource constraints of the state government the Centre will continue to provide assistance for implementing Annual Plan of appropriate size.

* Tax and central excise concessions to attract investments in the industrial sector will be worked out for the Special Category States including Uttaranchal. The industries eligible for such incentives will be environment friendly with potential for local employment generation and use of local resources.

* Development of the lakes in the Nainital district will be taken up under National Lake Conservation Plan of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Adequate budgetary support will be provided in this regard.

* The development of pilgrimage circuit (Char Dham) will be taken up once detailed proposals are submitted by the state government.

* The norms for implementation of rural development and RIDF projects in the hill areas will be relaxed to meet the special needs.

As regards financial assistance to retire liabilities of two spinning mills at Jaspur and Kashipur, the state government was informed that the proposal is under consideration in the Planning Commission.

The Prime Minister made the following additional announcements for the rural sector:

* Rs. 20 crore under the sector Reform Project for Sanitation. One district will be selected by the state government under this.

* Rs. 20 crores under the sector Reform Project for rural roads in another district.

* Rs. 12 crores for 5000 additional houses under Indira Awas Yojna. These houses will be built in the areas affected by landslides.

* Rs. 20 crores for 6 additional projects under Integrated Watershed Development Programme covering 30000 hectares.

Allocation of Rs. 150 crores in the next year under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund from NABARD. (At present the state avails about Rs. 40 crores annually.)

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