Uttarakhand Cabinet approves formation of council to manage pilgrimage sites
The decision was taken by the state cabinet at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday.
A separate council, namely Uttarakhand Dharamsva and Tirthatan Parishad, is needed for better management of the pilgrimages to different Himalayan temples because of the growing rush of pilgrims every year, Secretary to the Chief Minister Shailesh Baghauli said.
The work of the council would be to create, strengthen and maintain better infrastructural facilities for devotees coming on a pilgrimage and to make their journeys to the temples more comfortable, easy, safe and pleasant, he said.
A separate budgetary provision will be made for the council, Baghauli said.
With better road and air connectivity available in the state now, more and more pilgrims are coming to the state every year, he said.
"There has been an unprecedented increase in the number of devotees coming to the state for the Char Dham dham Yatra, Nanda Devi Raj Jat Yatra, Purnagiri Yatra and Adi Kailash Yatra in recent years. Therefore, it was decided to form a separate unit—Uttarakhand Dharamsva and Tirthatan Parishad for their management and systematic operation," Baghauli said.
Constituting a state body for the rapid development of ropeways in hilly terrain and implementing a self-employment scheme for single women were the other important decisions taken by the cabinet.
Mukhyamantri Ekal Mahila Swarojgar Yojana is aimed at providing employment to destitute, abandoned or widowed women in their village or their area of residence and to provide them social security while strengthening their economic condition and to bring about qualitative improvement in their standard of living.
In another important decision, the Cabinet approved the Uttarakhand Poultry Development Policy-2025.
Officials said the state has a shortage of 15,444 lakh eggs and 395 lakh kilograms of poultry meat per year, in view of which this policy has been approved to promote investment in the state and make it self-reliant in the poultry sector.
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