Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat in New Delhi. (Express Photo by Prem Nath Pandey)
Mentioning corruption as the “single biggest challenge in implementation of any scheme” in Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat, while addressing the people on Sunday, asked for the support of the people to combat corruption. The BJP government in Uttarakhand completed one year on Sunday.
On being declared the chief minister last year, Rawat had said that his efforts would be to form a “corruption-free government, which works with transparency”.
Rawat on Sunday said, “As the state’s chief minister, I have closely observed the process of implementation of various schemes in the state and I can say now that corruption remains the single biggest challenge for us. In a year, I have seen that the people who need to be benefited get nothing, while many others are benefiting from indulging in corruption.”
Stating that the BJP government had taken steps to curb corruption to a large extent, he asked the people for their support. “I need your support to combat the deep-rooted corruption in the state,” he said.
“I can say with confidence that in one year we have curbed corruption in the state to a great extent. Currently, 20 officials are in jail (for alleged involvement in a scam),” he said.
In March last year, Rawat had initiated a state-level probe into an alleged multi-crore scam in farmland acquisition for widening of National Highway 74, where agricultural land in Udham Singh Nagar district was shown as non-agricultural so that higher compensation money could be paid to owners of the land.