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The Modi model of development is different. Well work out our ownShare |Larger | SmallerThe Indian ExpressTags : the idea exchange, columnsPosted: Sun Nov 14 2010, 02:14 hrsFreelance JobsWholesaleDiscount ShoppingCordless HeadphoneDiscussionBlogsCaptaiship decisions... - By niranjanMr. - By AravindLoud speaker - By madhuDiversion - By RajGood work mr chidamb... - By oldindianOk - By Lokesh HKThank god - By Avinash Baranwal

Ramesh Pokhriyal: Uttarakhand cannot be compared to other states. Uttarakhand isthe soul of this country, the epicentre of knowledge and science. The Vedas andUpanishads evolved here. Ayurveda was discovered here. This state lies on the boundary of two foreign countries. One member from every household in the state joins the army and is ready to lay down his life for the nation. Our state has co

ntributed the maximum number of soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for thenation, be it during the attacks on Akshardham, Parliament or Mumbai. The statehas natural resources in abundance like lakes, parks and the Valley of Flowers.When we were fighting to become a state, many may have desired to become MLAs orpoliticians but I had no such urge. I was hill development minister in Kalyan Singhs government in UP and the culture minister in Ram Prakash Guptas Cabinet. When Uttarakhand was formed in 2000, I became finance minister. The rate of development then was 2.9 per cent. According to the Planning Commission report of lastyear, the development rate had risen to 9.31 per cent making it the third fastest developing state. This years report on GSDP (gross state domestic product) hasdata from 2000-2009 and shows Uttarakhand is the number one state in development.

Ads by GoogleD K Singh: Uttarakhand hasnt had political stability in recent times due to infighting in the state BJP.

The BJP has never been unstable here. Those who are given charge of public office or any post should perform their duties well. This is a democracy and everyoneis accountable for their work. People should be part of the system, not autocratic. Why should babus head corporations when they are already part of the system? Why should we not place the publics representatives there as they would know the problems?

Anil Bansal: You seem to have managed your party members well. Even the Congress

is not opposing you in the state. What have you done?

I am dedicated to the development and welfare of the state. I keep asking the opposition for their opinion and suggestions. Why would I oppose their sane adviceand suggestions that are in the interests of the state? Why would there be opposition if I agree to implement their suggestions?

Fazal Iman: You are a known literary figure. How do you strike a balance betweenliterature and politics?

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There are many who know me as a politician. Very few know me as a man of letters. I believe that there is a huge difference between locking oneself in a room and writing on the basis of imagination and going out in the field and penning down incidents and reactions you have witnessed. I do not count myself in the category of story writers, novelists. What I do is to try and convert the days happenings that I come across into poems or stories. If I can take time out, I can write at least a hundred stories on the basis of what I see and feel when I am out meeting people. The day I do not write will be the worst day of my life.

Manoj C G: You said Uttarakhand has achieved a tremendous growth rate over the years, but when it comes to governance and development, your party leaders alwayscite Narendra Modi and the Gujarat model.

All of you are aware that Uttarakhand is a very critical state in terms of geography. It was a backward state and now is a growing state. In the 10 years of itsexistence, we have had our ups and downs. It is the top state in development ifit is judged and studied in depth. The Modi model is different. We will work out our own model. This model will be based keeping in mind the geography, socialand economical situation of the state. I believe that Modiji has done a good jobin Gujarat. We will try to do our bit too.

Dhiraj Nayyar: When Uttarakhand was formed, the idea was to form a separate state comprising the hilly areas of Uttar Pradesh. But when it was formed, it included many plain areas like Roorkee, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar. Do the people

of the plains dominate the population of hilly regions when it comes to policies? Is the welfare of the hilly regions a problem?

I do not believe this. When we were struggling for a separate state, many peopleopposed the inclusion of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar. Our NDA ally, the Akali Dal, opposed Udham Singh Nagar as part of Uttarakhand and threatened to pull out of the central government. Uttar Pradesh opposed the merger of Haridwar withUttarakhand. On Haridwar, the state saw a huge protest. The people were misinformed that their religious places would be taken away from them by the government.In Udham Singh Nagar, people were told that they would lose their agriculturalland to the government. Badalji had a major issue with Udham Singh Nagar as hispeople had farmhouses there which he thought might be acquired by the government. The then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee told me to sort out the problem.

I convinced people that their fears were unfounded and the protests subsided. Myidea to include Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar comes from my belief that both these regions are like balconies to the house that is the hilly region. Now, people believe that Haridwar is the pride of Uttarakhand and residents are happy with the development. Now, when there is a landslide or cloudburst in any region, we have to rehabilitate the affected villagers. If we did not have these two regions, where would we have gone for rehabilitation?

Pradeep Kaushal: Baba Ramdev has shown an interest in beginning a political party and contesting elections. Do you think that BJP will be affected by his entryinto politics?

I do not think the BJP will be affected as there are new parties emerging every

day in this country. This is a democracy and whoever wants to start a party cando so. I have had a personal relationship with Baba Ramdev. I have asked him toreconsider starting a political party. He has been instrumental in promoting yoga and ayurveda worldwide and he should prevent that image from getting tarnished.

Rakesh Tiwari: You promoted Sanskrit and made it the second official language inyour state. But it has very little use in every day conversation. What is yourgovernment doing to promote Kumaoni and Garhwali dialects?

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As Uttarakhand is a dev bhoomi (Gods land) and Sanskrit is dev language, the state should be the first to promote it officially. A society which is not able to connect with its root language cannot grow and sustain itself. Homoeopathy and ayurveda are popular now. We need to learn the language of ayurveda in order to understand the science. Hence Sanskrit. We believe vernacular languages should bestrengthened. That is why we have decided to form an institute of vernacular languages which will preserve and promote Garhwali and Kumaoni languages.

Surya Nath Singh: Would you outline some of the progress in the state? Your demand for increased budget has been declined. Do you think this will affect the states growth?

We have prepared a Vision 2020 for the state. We imagine that by 2020, we will have an ideal state. We have earmarked five things to make our dream come true. There are thousands of Switzerlands in the state. One aspect of Vision 2020 is tobring this beauty before the world. We have the Valley of Flowers, mountain climbing and water games and winter games. The state would be developed as the worlds biggest spot for winter games. We have initiated a programme called Uttarakhandaheaven on earth. We have identified 21 spots to be developed for tourism. We will construct 52 helipads. The char dham circuit will be linked with flights. On the Kedarnath route, 40 helicopters have become taxis. The countrys biggest pharmaceutical company is in Dehra Dun. We have established an Ayurveda University. Wehave signed a contract with Baba Ramdev where he will take medicinal plants worth Rs 1,000 crore from us every year.

Education is very important for us. We have schools like Doon School and other important schools. This is the first state which has branches of every instituterecognised in the world, like the Uttarakhand Academy of Administration, the Indian Military Academy, IIM, IIT, Krishi Vishwavidyala and others.

Anil Bansal: You face environmental challenges, like the cloudburst in September. Many floods are caused by the development of infrastructure, roads.

The destruction was not due to the building of roads or due to development. Therecent cloudburst took place in a place that was forested. We have not built roads there. We are promoting environment conservation. Sparsh Ganga is a programmefor forest conservation. We are the first state to have 12,000 van panchayats w

here people take care of trees like their children.

I must also say that the withdrawal of the industrial package to the state was unfair. This is happening for the first time in Indian history. I have spoken tothe prime minister about this. It is unfair to us on two counts: first, the industrial package had been allocated to us by Atalji and was valid till 2013. Its for the first time that a government has snatched an industrial package from a state given by a former government. The policy on industrial packages should be thesame for every state. North-eastern states had an industrial package for ten years, from 1997 to 2007. This has been extended from 2007 to 2017. These double standards are unfair. Our package should not have been taken away from us. They should have given us a ten-year extension.

Ambreen Khan: What do you have to say about Mayawatis style of governance?

Mayawatis government is her personal matter. I am concerned with my state. Earlier, when anyone wanted to punish an officer, he would be sent to Uttarakhand on deputation. Now the state is growing and progressing at its own pace. I rememberwhen I planned the first budget for the state in 1997, it was of Rs 670 crore; now it is

Rs 6,800 crore. Uttarakhand has progressed a lot.

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Pratibha: The Kumbh mela concluded without any major mishaps and was a great success. What was your strategy? Also you faced a natural calamity in the form of the cloudburst. How did you handle it?

The cloudburst, a natural calamity, came after 150 years and the loss was estimated to be around Rs 21,000 crore. The char dham yatra was most affected as roadswere blocked and shut. In terms of tourism, business stopped as there were no visitors to the Valley of Flowers, the lakes and other natural resources. We geared up and tackled the calamity on a war-footing. Around 1,600 roads were damaged. The villagers helped to open the roads. Thus, roads which otherwise would havetaken a year to be opened for traffic, were cleared in a months time.

Kumbh mela is the second biggest event of the kind in world. We took the supportof NASA and satellites. We had threats from three or four militant groups. I went to Haridwar in disguise nearly four times leaving my security around midnightas I wanted to be satisfied with the arrangements. There were huge crowdsa single push could get 20,000 hurt in a stampede. I told my team about the loopholes and we worked on those.

D K Singh: Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has raised the red flag on many power projects in the state. What do you think of his approach?

I told him that those people who are sitting in AC bungalows should not teach usenvironment conservation. Our people are born environmentalists. We are telling

the environment minister not to tamper with our policies. Why are they focusingon conserving forests in Uttarakhand when they are being conserved? Our riversbring silt and if we do not remove the silt, the river will change its course. He said this is de-silting. How is this de-silting? When rains continued for 72 hours, rivers changed their course and flooded our fields, colonies and residential areas. I called him up and told him that he is responsible for the loss.

D K Singh: What about the power project next to the Valley of Flowers on Bhagirathi? What is the objection?

Of the three projects you are talking about, two were oursBhairon Ghati and PalaManeri. One is 120 MW and the other is 320 MW. Our two projects on the Ganga were stopped by the environment ministry. I argued that a 600 MW power production a

t Lohari Nagpala by the NTPC was forcing the Ganga into a tunnel for 16 km. Thatis also an environmental hazard. If our two small projects are a hazard to theenvironment, how has that project got environmental clearance? I have written tothe minister that this project needs to be stopped and 2000 MW should be givenfree of cost. If small projects can affect the environment, big projects do moreharm.

Rakesh TIWARI: In the last Lok Sabha election, the BJP lost all five seats and you became chief minister after Khanduri was removed. There must have been reasons behind that. What were the shortcomings and what lessons have you learnt?

My duty is to deliver. My only desire is to perform my work with dedication.

Transcribed by Pragya Kaushika