Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal on Saturday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to formulate a separate policy for all the Himalayan States to ensure their all-round development keeping in view their peculiar geographical location. He also advocated setting up of a Himalayan the State Development Authority for conservation of forests and wildlife of “these ecologically-sensitive States.”
Participating in the National Development Council meeting here, Mr. Pokhriyal also put forth his demand for extension of Special Industrial Package for the State up to 2020. Terming the withdrawal of the package to the States “gross injustice,” the Chief Minister asked the Centre to sanction Rs. 5,000 crore as ‘Green Bonus' to the State for its efforts towards environment conservation. He also demanded financial support in the ratio 90:10 in the Centre-sponsored schemes in view of the special status granted to Uttarakhand.
