DEHRADUN: Gairsain, the summer capital of Uttarakhand, will become a new division, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat announced in the state Sssembly on Thursday during the budget session. Comprising of four districts Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Bageshwar and Almora it will be the third division.
Like the other two, Kumaon and Garhwal, it will have a senior IAS officer as commissioner and senior IPS as deputy-inspector general of police.
The CM also announced that a town planner for Gairsain will be appointed soon and tender for the master plan will be issued in a month.
About 20,000 trees will be planted and a food processing unit would be established in the area, he said.
At present a ‘nagar panchayat’, Gairsain in Chamoli district was designated as summer capital of Uttarakhand last year.
It has no railway network or airport, though plans to build an airstrip was announced way back in 2012 by the then CM Vijay Bahuguna.
The government presented a Rs 57,400-crore budget for the state, with emphasis on health, rural infrastructure, education, employment generation and agriculture.
For the first time, the budget session was telecast live. Rawat said the budget aimed at making Uttarakhand self-reliant.