PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
Chief secretary Anand Bardhan held a meeting with NITI Aayog members M Srinivas and VK Raju and senior officers of State administration at the State secretariat on Tuesday. Detailed discussions on development potential in various sectors of Uttarakhand, innovation, employment generation and the major challenges facing the State were held in the meeting. The CS said that Uttarakhand has immense potential in the fields of horticulture, floriculture, fisheries, and honey production. Work is underway to make these sectors more effective through modern technology, improved market linkages and value addition. He requested the NITI Aayog to share Project Proposal Report (PPR) formats for the effective implementation of various schemes and projects, making them more useful and results-based.
The CS stated that it is essential to optimally utilize the potential available in various sectors and effectively address local challenges for sustainable and inclusive development of the State. He added that the important suggestions made by NITI Aayog members will be studied and incorporated into the State’s policies and action plans.
NITI Aayog member, M Srinivas emphasized the need to ensure widespread access to Abha ID in the healthcare sector and to saturate as many people as possible. He said that strengthening digital health records will help provide better and more consistent healthcare services to citizens. NITI Aayog member KV Raju said that skill enhancement of the locally available human resources should be the primary responsibility of the State.
In the meeting discussion on increasing industry involvement in the aroma sector, linking production to market needs and strengthening product grading and traceability systems was also held. Elaborate discussion on human-wildlife conflict, crop damage by monkeys and wild boars and forest fires were also held.
Principal secretary RK Sudhanshu, R Meenakshi Sundaram, Advisor NITI Aayog Neelam Patel, secretary V Shanmugam, SN Pandey, Sridhar Babu Addanki, Jyoti Yadav, Dhiraj Singh Garbyal and Ranjana Rajguru attended the meeting.
