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Rehabilitation of people affected in U`khand most imp: Vijay Bahuguna

Uttarakhand Chief Minsiter Vijay Bahuguna on Saturday expressed his gratitude to the Centre, Army and others for extending help during floods which ravaged the state in June, and pledged to bring the state back on the path of development as it celebrated its foundation day.

Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minsiter Vijay Bahuguna on Saturday expressed his gratitude to the Centre, Army and others for extending help during floods which ravaged the state in June, and pledged to bring the state back on the path of development as it celebrated its foundation day.
In his message to the people on the occasion of its 14th foundation day, the Chief Minister thanked the Centre, corporates, NGOs, police, paramilitary personnel and the armed forces for their efforts in dealing with the effects of the calamity. Bahuguna said his government will not rest till the state recovers fully from the repercussions of the colossal tragedy. He said without the help of Army evacuating 1.20 lakh people stranded in high altitude areas would not have been possible. Describing rehabilitation of the affected people as the foremost priority of the state government, the Chief Minister said norms have been relaxed to cover larger sections of people under the ambit of the compensation exercise. For instance, Bahuguna said the compensation amount to be given to the kin of those killed in the calamity has been raised from Rs three lakh to Rs five lakh per family, and the sum to be given as compensation to those maimed in the tragedy from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. Similarly, the compensation amount for the owners of agricultural land damaged due to landslides or change in the course of rivers has been revised from Rs 25 thousand per hectare to Rs 30 thousand per hectare, Bahuguna said. He also mentioned Rs one lakh to be given for the marriage of girls orphaned in the tragedy. He extended special thanks to the police, IAF, ITBP and NDRF personnel, some of whom laid down their lives during the rescue operations, saying a massive evacuation exercise of this scale in this difficult hilly terrain would have been unthinkable without their assistance. Bahuguna thanked the Centre especially Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for sanctioning a package of Rs 1,000 crore for relief and rehabilitation in Uttarakhand and also giving a special package to the state under the PMGSY and Indira Avas schemes in view of large scale losses suffered by the people of the state. Noting that the state can never repay its debt of gratitude to the people who fought for the creation of a separate Uttarakhand, he said the pension amount given to statehood agitationists has been revised from Rs 3,000 per month to Rs 5,000. Describing growth of development-starved hill areas of Uttarakhand as one of the driving forces of the movement which led to its creation, Bahuguna said his government`s decision to construct a Vidhan Bhawan at Gairsain in Chamoli district was a step in that direction. Later, the Chief Minister released a book on creation of a new Uttarakhand with emphasis on inclusive development titled "Samaveshi Vikas Ki Or Badhte Kadam - Milkar Garhenge Naya Uttarakhand"?at a function organised at the Gorkha Military Inter College in the presence of his ministerial colleagues and senior officials to mark the occasion.