Per capita income rose 5 times in a decade: Paul

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 9

Governor KK Paul has highlighted several issues related to the development and progress of the state. He was speaking at the Governors’ Conference at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi today.

The Governor said the state had made steady progress since its inception despite severe constraints and natural disasters. It had witnessed a five-fold increase in the per capita income in the last one decade and an appreciable increase in the literacy level.

The Governor took up issues, including security, ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’, skill development among youth, higher education and earthquakes. He said though the law and order situation was satisfactory in the state, the two international borders it shared with China and Nepal were a cause for concern.

He said the Border Area Development Plan and the Border Area Development Authority, funded by the Ministry of Home Affairs, needed more funding as well as monitoring. He said infrastructure development in the border areas of the state must be on priority.

The Governor highlighted the efforts to develop skills such as IT, automobile repairing, computer assembling and tourism among school dropouts through polytechnics in order to make them employable or help them earn their living through self-employment.

The Governor said the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was being implemented in the state. Plans were underway to dispose of 500 MT of garbage through ultra gasification mechanism in Dehradun and Haridwar. Special emphasis was being laid at Haridwar during the Ardh Kumbh to ensure that the sanctity and cleanliness of the Ganga was maintained. An adequate number of sanitation staff and toilets were in place at the event.

Talking about the focus on the need for improving the standard of higher education in the state, the Governor said he had taken many initiatives as the Chancellor of the 10 state government universities.

The Governor also spoke about the measures being taken to make the Raj Bhawan “smart”. Energy was being saved by the use of CFL and LED lights and solarisation was also underway.

Regarding the state’s efforts to deal with the threat of earthquakes, he said training was being given to engineers to build quake-resistant buildings. He said a seminar was held at Raj Bhawan last year where experts from the IIT, Roorkee, made presentations on the Early Earthquake Warning System (EEWS).

He said the state government was collaborating with the IIT, Roorkee, and other institutions to understand the nature of seismic threat in the region. The state government was planning to set up an automated system for the dissemination of early warnings of earthquakes.