Express News Service
DEHRADUN: A cabinet minister from former Chief Minister (CM) Trivendra’s cabinet, who is also in the new CM’s cabinet said on Thursday that inclusion of Almora district in Gairsain commissionary was not a ‘practical’ decision.
Rekha Arya, state cabinet minister for women and child welfare also praised the newly sworn in CM Tirath Singh Rawat.
“I am glad that Tirath Singh Rawat has decided to reconsider the decision. Almora district has its own history, personality and people’s emotions are attached with the issue,” added Arya.
The statement comes at a time when it is believed that the decision was one of the main reasons for removal of Trivendra Singh Rawat as the state Chief Minister.
Sources from the government said that adding Almora in newly formed Gairsain commissionary acted a big catalyst. The MLAs from Kumaon division were angry about ‘annexation’ of traditional cultural capital of Kumaon for the newly built division in Garhwal division.
Immediate trigger for Trivendra Singh Rawat’s removal is also said to be creation of Gairsain division with two districts from Kumaon and Garhwal divisions each without consulting the MLAs.
“The MLAs, especially 22 MLAs from Kumaon division were really angry about the decision. They were not even apprised of such a big decision,” said an insider from the BJP.
Earlier, this month, in a historic move, Uttarakhand government in a live budget session in Gairsain state assembly announced that the summer capital will be third commissionary of Uttarakhand.
The new division will have four districts- Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Bageshwar and Almora along with a senior IAS officer as commissioner and senior IPS as deputy-inspector general of police like other two divisions of the state- Kumaon and Garhwal.
Last year, Gairsain town in Chamoli district was designated as summer capital of Uttarakhand. The announcement came after almost two decades after formation of Uttarakhand in year 2000.
Gairsain town is located 250 kilometers from Dehradun at 5,410 feet elevation spanning around 7.53 square kilometres with population of around 12000.
Meanwhile, sources from the state government told that in coming days, the decision regarding Char Dham Devsthanam Board can be taken which has been bone of contention between priests and the state government.
The law was brought in by the Trivendra government to manage Char Dham shrines of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri along with 51 other major temples of the hill state.
The cabinet on Thursday approved Rs 1 Crore for government medical college in kotdwar of Pauri district among other few decisions.
