Uttarakhand News: Chief Minister Shri Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday inaugurated the Cooperative Fair organized in Pithoragarh on the occasion of “International Cooperative Year 2025”. On this occasion, he inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of various schemes of the district worth Rs 85.14 crore, which includes laying the foundation stone worth Rs 23.16 crore and inauguration of works worth Rs 61.98 crore.
Addressing the public, the Chief Minister said that the schemes that have been inaugurated and the foundation stone laid will prove to be a milestone in the all-round development of Pithoragarh. He said that the tradition of cooperation has been going on in India since ancient times. This is an effort to make each other self-reliant through mutual cooperation. The United Nations has declared the year 2025 as the “International Year of Cooperation” to promote global cooperation to achieve the goals of sustainable development.
The Chief Minister said that to realize the dream of “prosperity through cooperation” in the country, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has decided to form a separate Ministry of Cooperation in the country. Today, under the leadership of Shri Amit Shah, this Ministry is creating a different administrative, legal and policy framework to further strengthen the cooperative movement in the country. He said that the work of computerization of multi-purpose cooperative societies in the country had started from Uttarakhand and today computerization of all 671 cooperative societies of the state has been completed. 24 committees of the state are working as Jan Aushadhi Kendras, from which rural people are getting cheap and quality medicines. 640 committees have been developed as common service centres.
The Chief Minister said that the data of 3838 committees of the state has been uploaded on the National Cooperative Database. From February 2023 till now, 800 new PACS, 248 new dairy committees and 116 fisheries committees have been formed in the state. Uttarakhand Cooperative Union is purchasing Manduwa at the rate of Rs 48.86 per kg this year to provide more benefits to the farmers under the Millet Mission Scheme. Under Deendayal Upadhyay Cooperative Farmers Welfare Scheme, interest-free loans of up to Rs 5 lakh are being given to farmers and self-help groups for agricultural activities like animal husbandry, dairy farming, fish farming and floriculture. An interest-free crop loan of Rs 1 lakh is also being provided to small and marginal farmers through cooperative societies.
The Chief Minister said that today there is a deposit of more than Rs 16 thousand crore in the cooperative banks of the state, which is a proof of the increasing trust of the public towards these institutions. Women entrepreneurship is also being encouraged through cooperative societies. More than 1 lakh 70 thousand sisters of the state have created a new history in the direction of women empowerment by becoming “Lakhpati Didi”. The Chief Minister said that the construction work of the medical college building is being done in Pithoragarh at a cost of more than Rs 750 crore. A modern multipurpose hall is being constructed in the Sports College at a cost of Rs 34 crore. The construction work of a grand stadium is also going to start in Berinag development block.
Along with construction of new bus stations in Askot, Gangolihat and Dharchula, roadways workshop is also being constructed in Pithoragarh. Under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, construction work of various roads is in progress in the area at a cost of Rs 327 crore. Work has been done to connect Pithoragarh with Haldwani, Dehradun and Delhi by air service. The work of developing Pithoragarh Airport in a modern form at a cost of Rs 450 crore will be started soon. On this occasion, Minister of State, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India Mr. Ajay Tamta, MLA Mr. Bishan Singh Chufal, Mayor Pithoragarh Mrs. Kalpana Devlal, President District Panchayat Pithoragarh Mr. Jitendra Prasad, BJP District President Mr. Girish Joshi, District Magistrate Pithoragarh Mr. Ashish Bhatgani, Superintendent of Police Ms. Rekha Yadav and other public representatives and local people were present.
