Dehradun: On the completion of 12 years of the Prime Minister’s tenure, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami stated that after the reins of the country came into the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttarakhand has witnessed an unprecedented expansion of road, rail, and air services over the past 12 years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the Char Dham Road Project in December 2016. The main objective of this project is to connect the four holy dhams of Uttarakhand with an all-weather road. Nearly 90 percent of the work on this project, built at a cost of around Rs 12,000 crore, has been completed, making travel smoother across a major part of the hills, including the Char Dhams. The Prime Minister has gifted another boon to Uttarakhand in the form of the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor. With the opening of this 210-km-long highway, built at a cost of Rs 11,963 crore, it has become possible to complete the journey from Delhi to Dehradun in an unimaginable time of just two and a half hours. With the cooperation of the Central Government, work is currently underway on major projects like the Sitarganj-Tanakpur, Paonta Sahib-Dehradun, Bhaniyawala-Rishikesh, Kathgodam-Lalkuan-Haldwani bypass, and the Rudrapur bypass.
Common Man Takes Flight
Within the past 12 years, air services have also been launched for the remote areas of the state. With the cooperation of the Central Government, three major airports in the state—Jolly Grant, Pantnagar, and Pithoragarh—have been expanded. Furthermore, to give wings to the dreams of the common man, 18 heliports are being developed in the state under the Central Government’s UDAN scheme, out of which services have already commenced at 12. During the tenure of the double-engine government, regular air services have started from Dehradun airport to cities like Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Jaipur, Lucknow, Pune, and Kullu. Meanwhile, under the leadership of CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, the state government is running the ‘Mukhyamantri Udankhatola Yojana’ to provide air connectivity to the remotest areas of the state. Under this scheme, heli-services are being operated from Dehradun and Haldwani to the mountainous districts of the state.
Rail Network to Reach the Hills
Following the formation of the Modi government at the Centre, the rail network in the state has also expanded rapidly. Thanks to the special efforts of the Central Government, over 72 percent of the work on the 125-km-long Rishikesh-Karnaprayag rail line has been completed. Due to the active efforts of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the Central Government has also given its nod for the survey of rail lines from Tanakpur to Bageshwar and from Doiwala to Gangotri-Yamunotri. Additionally, 11 railway stations in the state are being modernized under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji’s tenure will be written in golden letters in the history of Uttarakhand’s development. Over the past 12 years, all kinds of connectivity have been strengthened in Uttarakhand. Now, it is possible to reach major cities from any part of the state within a few hours. The state government is also making continuous efforts to develop every mode of transport in the state.” – CM Pushkar Singh Dhami
