Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat sprung a major surprise during the budget assembly session by announcing Gairsain as a new administrative division in Uttarakhand. After Kumaon and Garhwal, Gairsain will now be the third commissionerate of the Himalayan state, the CM said. The commissionerate would comprise of four hill districts of Chamoli & Rudraprayag (from Garhwal) and Almora and Bageshwar (from Kumaon). A commissioner and a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) rank officer would be posted at Gairsain.
To improve the economy of the area, the CM during his budget speech announced to set up a food processing unit in Gairsain. Rawat said that a total of 20,000 fruit saplings would also be planted in the summer capital.
In addition, he directed authorities to ensure planned development of the Gairsain area for which a tender to prepare a master plan would be floated within a month.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, cultural events and a ‘Deepotsav’ (Festival of Lights) were held to mark one year of CM’s announcement to declare Gairsain as the summer capital of the state. A total of 1100 earthen lamps were lit to mark the ocassion and a 2-minute silence was observed as a mark of respect for those killed in the recent Chamoli disaster. The CM also announced a fund of Rs 1 crore each for infrastructure development of newly-constituted Nagar panchayats and 20 computers to be given to each of the state universities
