Uttarakhand cabinet meets at Pauri for first time

The Uttarakhand cabinet on Saturday met for the first time at the hill township of Pauri in the state's Garhwal region against the backdrop of deep concern at the widespread migration of the people from the area.

Since the state of Uttarakhand was formed, dozens of government offices in Pauri had been shifted to Dehradun and elsewhere or closed. 

The meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, took a series of decisions including developing a lake at Lwali area to solve the district's acute drinking water problem and also to develop it as a tourist site. The total cost of the project will be Rs 6.92 crore.

The Purkul-Mussoorie ropeway project has been given to FIL Industries and will be developed on the PPP mode.

The cabinet also resolved to cancel the decision to develop a new secretariat close to the old secretariat by buying a piece of land for Rs 26.54 crore. This was done because of the ongoing dispute in the Supreme Court, state Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik said.

An NCC academy will be set up at Sitonsyu area in Pauri district by acquiring 3.67 hectares.

The meeting also paid tribute to Ankur, son of state Education and Panchayat Raj Minister Arvind Pandey after he was killed in a road accident this week.  IANS