Uttarakhand: Efforts started again regarding the new assembly building project, the Center had raised questions and cancelled the in-principle agreement
Establishing the Legislative Assembly Secretariat and the headquarters of various departments in Raipur area still seems to be a distant dream. In fact, it has taken a year for the government to re-apply for the new assembly project. On the other hand, the Center had canceled the in-principle consent given earlier, saying that the government seems to be serious in this matter. However, now once again efforts have been started to get approval from the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment through the Parivesh portal.
After losing the first chance on the new assembly building project in Raipur, the Uttarakhand government has now started efforts again. However, in the year 2013, the file started being made in the government to establish other important offices including the new assembly building. After which, in the year 2016, after completing all the formalities, in-principle approval was received from the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment. That is, it took about 3 years for the state to get this approval.
But then all these efforts of the government were shattered, when in December 2023, the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment canceled the in-principle approval received earlier. Apart from objecting to the approval on forest land, the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment had said that the state government would not take any step forward on it for about 6 to 7 years. Not only this, the Center had also said that the state government was not serious about this project.
The state government had earlier identified about 59 hectares of land for the new assembly project, while now in the new project, approval has been sought for about 58 hectares of land by excluding the cremation ground area. However, after getting in-principle consent earlier by the state government, Rs 23.55 crore was also given to the Center for Elephant Corridor and other formalities.
Due to the lack of progress on this project, the Center withdrew and canceled the in-principle consent given on this project in December 2023. In this, all the departments were given responsibility, in which the State Property Department was made the nodal department and was given the responsibility to take the work forward. On the other hand, about 1 year after the cancellation of approval in this matter, in January 2025, an application has been made again through the Parivesh portal. There is little hope of getting approval on this anytime soon. In this case, Secretary State Property Vinod Suman has been giving various technical reasons for the cancellation of approval and he has also said that positive efforts will be made in the case.
