The announcement was made3 monsth ago by CM Rawat during his budget speech. (Couretsy: Twitter/@airnewsalerts)

Three months after Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat made the announcement during a special Budget session of the Assembly, the government issued a notification declaring Gairsain as the summer capital of Uttarakhand.

Gairsain, a tehsil in Chamoli district, is located nearly 270 km from Dehradun, the existing capital.

The notification was issued by Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh after Governor Baby Rani Maurya gave her assent to the move.

Chief Minister Rawat said Gairsain (or Bhararisain) would be developed as a hill capital, with the work plan being drafted in consultation with planners and experts. To avoid having to physically shift files between Dehradun and Gairsain, work on a concept of e-Vidhan Sabha is being done, the CM said.

The CM also added that the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag railway project, once completed, would bring Gairsain closer to a rail network.

Even when Uttarakhand was carved out as a separate state from Uttar Pradesh on November 9, 2000, statehood activists had contended that Gairsain was best suited to be the capital of the mountainous state since it lay between both the Kumaon and Garhwal regions. But it was Dehradun, in the plains, that was named the ‘temporary capital’, triggering discontent that the hilly areas of the state would be neglected.

In its Vision Document released before the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP had promised to equip Gairsain with “top-class infrastructure” and consider declaring it as a summer capital. On March 4 this year, the state government held a special Budget Session of the Assembly in Gairsain, where it was named the state’s summer capital.

Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Indira Hridyesh, said, “The buildings and infrastructure in Gairsain were developed during the regimes of Congress-led governments. But the BJP took credit by making an announcement in the House. They are playing politics because they are not saying where the ‘permanent’ capital is.”

Former CM Vijay Bahuguna (then in the Congress party) had held his first Cabinet meeting in Gairsain in the local block office building in 2012. It was then announced that Gairsain would host at least one Assembly session every year. Bahuguna had also laid the foundation stone of a Vidhan Sabha building in Gairsain in January 2013.

Char Dham yatra to stay suspended till June 30: officials

Dehradun: The Char Dham yatra will remain suspended till June 30, and any decision on starting yatra will be decided only after that date, officials said.

The Char Dham shrines are located in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi districts. The Char Dham Devasthanam Board took the decision to keep the yatra suspended after receiving reports from the respective district administrations, who said local stakeholders — including hoteliers, taxi operators and priests of the Char Dham shrines — are not in favour of stating yatra at least till June 30 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. ENS