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Discrimination against Uttarakhand: Pokhriyal

Staff Correspondent

DEHRA DUN: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has described Mamata Banerjee’s Railway Budget as “disappointing” since “hardly any provision has been made in it to improve connectivity of the hill State with other parts of the country” despite lakhs of domestic and foreign pilgrims and tourists visiting the region every year.

“The rail budget indicates the UPA government’s discrimination against Uttarakhand,” said the Chief Minister.

Displeasure

Welcoming the steps taken by Ms. Banerjee to develop Dehra Dun and Kathgodam railway stations as multipurpose complexes and Rishikesh as a model station, Mr. Nishank expressed displeasure that repeated demands by the State for more trains to various destinations in the country, including the South, and a super-fast train to Mumbai, a Char Dham Express from Delhi to Rishikesh and a Tourist Rath between Dehra Dun-Hardwar and Rishikesh had not been considered. Similarly, he said, requests to the Railway Ministry for new rail links between Tanakpur-Bageshwar and Rudrapur-Kichcha-Sitarganj had fallen on deaf ears. Mr. Nishank hoped that the Congress MPs from Uttarakhand would raise their voice in Parliament for the sake of the State as railway links tended to boost local economy.

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