PIONEEREDGE NEWS SERVICE | Dehradun Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami met Union minister for Power, Manohar Lal Khattar in New Delhi on Friday and discussed several issues concerning the State with him. In the meeting, the CM requested the union government for cooperation on issues related to infrastructure development and housing schemes in Rishikesh and Haridwar in view of the upcoming Kumbh in 2027. Dhami thanked the Union minister for approving the detailed project report of Rs 547.83 crores related to undergrounding and automation of HT/LT power cables in the Ganga corridor of Rishikesh under the RDSS scheme. He also requested for early approval of a similar proposal of Rs 315 crores for the Haridwar Kumbh area by including it in the RDSS scheme. The CM told Khattar that private developers are not showing interest in projects due to the whitelisting and redeemable voucher system under the guidelines of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (urban). He requested to re-implement the 40:40:20 phased payment system which was in practice earlier for faster implementation of the scheme. He informed that under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (urban), construction of 15,960 housing units is in progress under the AHP component in the state and out of them, 15,281 units have been allotted to the beneficiaries. The CM said that due to unorganized income and low CIBIL score of the beneficiaries of EWS category, they are not able to get loan facility from leading banks. He requested the central government to issue special guidelines in this regard to banks, NBFCs, SLBC and RBI so that maximum beneficiaries can avail the benefits of the scheme. Dhami said that the State government is developing the Rishikesh-Ganga, Haridwar-Ganga and Sharda riverfront at Tanakpur as world class religious and cultural sites. He requested a contribution of Rs 100 crore from THDC’s CSR fund and said that this effort will not only strengthen the Namami Gange project but will also promote sustainable tourism and local livelihood. The CM expressed confidence that with the expected cooperation from the union government, Uttarakhand will achieve new heights in the field of housing and infrastructure development along with organizing the upcoming Kumbh in a grand, safe and environmentally sensitive manner.
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