Champawat: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami participated in a pre-budget dialogue program at the Banbasa NHPC auditorium during his visit to Champawat. In this program, CM Dhami interacted with stakeholders from various sectors, including traders, tourism entrepreneurs, women’s groups, and public representatives. CM Dhami said that the budget determines the condition and direction of any state. Suggestions were taken from people from various sectors throughout the dialogue so that action could be taken on those suggestions in a timely manner.
The pre-budget dialogue program was held at the Banbasa NHPC auditorium under the chairmanship of CM Dhami. Extensive discussions were held on public participation, a self-reliant economy, and balanced development. The program was conducted by Additional Secretary to the Chief Minister, Manmohan Mainali. On this occasion, the State Finance Secretary, Dilip Jawalkar, highlighted the state’s economic progress, stating that Uttarakhand’s capital outlay has increased significantly in the last 5 years. This amount has increased from Rs 7534 crore to Rs 14765 crore. The state’s GDP reached Rs 2.54 lakh crore in 2021-22, which represents an increase of approximately 60 percent.
The Finance Secretary described this as a significant achievement for the state’s economy. In this dialogue program, public representatives, departmental officers, experts, and stakeholders from various sectors presented their suggestions to CM Dhami. Suggestions were given for increasing grants to accelerate rural development, strengthening solid waste management systems, constructing sewer lines and toilets, utilizing vacant land to empower panchayats, and providing honorarium and study tours for district panchayat members.
Under urban development, suggestions were made to increase the budget and resources of urban local bodies, install solar panels for environmental protection, improve the maintenance of roads and drains, and provide a partial share of the registration fee to municipal corporations. In the agriculture and horticulture sector, suggestions included promoting horticulture and value crops, encouraging the production of fruits like kiwi and blueberries, focusing on post-harvest management and processing, providing technical training to farmers and departmental personnel, offering special assistance to farmers in remote areas, and increasing fruit production subsidies from 30 percent to 80 percent.
Furthermore, under industrial development, emphasis was placed on establishing industries on available vacant land in hilly areas to create local employment and prevent migration, providing financial assistance to MSMEs, promoting service sector-based industries, and strengthening industrial infrastructure.
For women’s empowerment, suggestions included establishing training centers in every district, providing interest-free loans to women, and giving priority to women in employment in services such as hospital canteens. In the tourism sector, suggestions included expanding helicopter services, constructing alternative routes, promoting sustainable tourism, developing small tourist destinations, encouraging nature tourism and trekking, and connecting local communities to tourism through agri-tourism. Additionally, suggestions were received regarding road construction and widening in the state, strengthening the energy network to address the energy crisis, reducing GST on agriculture-based industries, reducing market fees, preserving and beautifying historical sites, providing more resources to urban local bodies, and allocating sufficient budgets to district panchayats for development works.
Chief Minister Dhami said that the state government will work towards providing facilities like pink toilets in every village, keeping in mind the safety and hygiene of women. Reiterating the resolve to make Uttarakhand self-reliant in every sector by 2047, he said that despite being a small state, Uttarakhand has achieved a leading position in financial management across the country, which is a matter of pride. He assured that the suggestions received would be seriously examined and incorporated into the upcoming budget as far as possible.
