Silver jubilee year: U’kahnd govt to organise Independence Day on a grand scale

PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICES | Dehradun

To commemorate the silver jubilee year of its foundation, the Uttarakhand government is planning to organise this year’s Independence Day in a grand manner.

State chief secretary Anand Bardhan chaired a meeting held to review the Independence Day preparations at the State secretariat on Thursday. In the meeting, the CS said that special programmes should be organized across the State on Independence Day. He said that the State and district level sports competitions should also be organized.  

Bardhan said that special programmes like blood donation camps, high altitude adventure activities and marathon, cycle, bike or car rallies should be organized on the day. He said that on the lines of Run for Unity, theme based run and walk programmes can also be organized.

He added that musical events should be organized by the bands of Police, Army and Paramilitary in major cities across the State. 

Emphasising on large scale public participation in these programmes, the CS directed the Labour department to ensure involvement of workers of organized and unorganized sector in this event.

The CS added that like last year, flag hoisting and tree plantation drives under ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ campaign around Amrit Sarovars constructed for water conservation should be held this year as well. He also directed all the District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police to ensure that the provisions of ‘Flag Code of India 2002’ are not violated during flag hoisting in government and non-government buildings. 

The director general, Information department Banshidhar Tiwari informed that on the occasion of Independence Day, the chief minister will hoist the flag at Parade Ground at 10 am while the CS will hoist the flag at the secretariat at 9 am.  In districts (except Dehradun) the flag will be hoisted at the DM office at 9.30 am.

He said that patriotic songs will be played through loudspeakers at the main crossings of the State headquarter and district headquarters from 6 pm to 9 pm on August 14 and from 6 am to 11 am on August 15. A kavi sammelan will be organized in Dehradun on August 14.

 Principal secretary L Fanai, R Meenakshi Sundaram, special principal secretary Amit Sinha, ADG V Murugeshan, secretary Ranjit Kumar Sinha, V Shanmugam, Neeraj Khairwal, Deependra Kumar Chaudhary, Vinod Kumar Suman, Jugal Kishore Pant and DM Dehradun Savin Bansal and others attended the meeting.