India News | U'khand Assembly Debates Sustainable Development Goals

Dehradun, Aug 28 (PTI) The Uttarakhand Assembly was adjourned sine die here on Saturday after holding a day-long debate on "Sustainable Development Goals" with members offering suggestions on possible ways to achieve the targets ascertained under the UNDP initiative.

Members gave their opinion on what steps can be taken to strengthen rural economy and create better health and education facilities in remote hill areas of the state.

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Aspiration for the development of hill areas was at the root of the movement for the creation of Uttarakhand and it is the responsibility of the state government to fulfill this goal by ensuring that the benefits of development initiatives reach the remotest villages, they said.

The members also said that the development of hill areas which means creation of jobs and better health and education facilities will help stop migration and reduce increasing population pressure on urban areas of the state.

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Congress MLA Karan Mahra said the inadequacy of health facilities in the state came to the fore during the second wave of the Covid pandemic.

Though acknowledging the fact that health facilities have been improved to deal with the challenges thrown up by the pandemic, Mahra said frontline corona warriors, including doctors and police personnel, are not being paid enough.

Making a specific suggestion, he said the starting salary of doctors should be at least Rs 1.5 lakh per month. An attractive salary will help the state government in its ongoing drive for recruiting more doctors to deal with the crisis, he said.

In another suggestion, he said gram sabhas should be authorised to distribute work under MGNREGA to villagers to build local roads connecting them with the main roads or highways.

It will give people jobs and help in strengthening the village economy. He also suggested digging trenches in the hills for rain water conservation which can subsequently be used for irrigation purposes. It will also help recharge rivers and streams besides helping growth of the forests, he said.

BJP MLA Harbans Kapoor underlined the need for creation of employment opportunities and making agriculture an economically viable livelihood option by providing a market for local products.

Congress MLA Raj Kumar put emphasis on encouraging farming of cash crops saying it could turn around the economy of rural areas.

He suggested creation of small Mandis at the local level for apple growers to sell their produce.

The members thanked Speaker Premchand Aggarwal for holding a positive debate in the House on a serious subject of public interest like this and giving them an opportunity to share their thoughts on it.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)