Agreement reached between Yogi Adityanath and Pushkar Dhami to settle asset distribution controversy between both the states, claims Uttarakhand government

While the election campaigning in Uttarakhand is on the full peak with Congress, BJP and Aam Admi Party extremely busy in their hectic campaigns, the mobile chief minister of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami today visited Lucknow amid tumultuous welcome by Uttarakhandies and met the saffron clad chief minister Yogi Aditya Nath to discuss the important vexed issue of distribution of assets between Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which couldn’t be resolved since the last 21 years though various earlier CMs viz Harish Rawat and Trivendra Singh Rawat etc held number of meetings with their counterparts Akhilesh Yadav and Yogi Aditya Nath etc.

According to the latest news, an agreement has been reached between UP CM Yogi Adityanath and Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami on all the delayed matters on distribution of assets saying that they will be resolved in the near future.

Revealing the results of the meeting between both the CMs, the Uttarakhand government disclosed that the CM considered Uttarakhand as UP’s younger brother and a meeting between top officials of both the government will be convened within 15 days to conduct a joint survey of 5,700 acres of land and 1,700 buildings in Uttarakhand under the jurisdiction of Uttar Pradesh Irrigation department.

According to the UK government after the joint survey, Uttar Pradesh will get it’s land it requires and rest will be given to Uttarakhand. The share of incomes and liabilities generated by the assets of Uttar Pradesh Awas Vikas Parishad located in Uttarakhand will be equally shared on 50 : 50 basis by both the states.

The statement further states that both the chief Ministers agreed to withdraw the case courts filed against each other in the cases regarding assets distribution.

In addition, the UP government granted permission to Uttarakhand to hold water sports activities in Dhaura, Baigul, and Nanak Sagar water bodies in Udham Singh Nagar district and upper Ganga canal in Roorkie under district Haridwar.

The UP government has agreed to give Rs 90 crores to Uttarakhand forest department at the earliest etc. The Uttar Pradesh Transport department will pay Rs. 250 crores to Uttarakhand and the thirty five room Alaknanda Hotel at Haridwar on the bank of Ganges owned by UP will go to Uttarakhand.

The issue of distribution of assets was first raised during the tenure of former Uttarakhand CK Narain Dutt Tiwari but despite number of meetings and several claims no success has been achieved in this regard till date.

This meeting of the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami with Yogi Adityanath on Thursday holds tremendous significance and may pay political dividends to BJP in the ensuing elections in case the former succeeds in getting maximum share of assets for Uttarakhand but since Uttar Pradesh is also going in elections next year Yogi Adityanath would not take any political risk by giving Uttarakhand its maximum share as this may put an adverse impact on his party’s chances. But since both the governments are of BJP in UP and Uttarakhand there may be some mutual arrangements of satisfying both the parties to send across a positive message, benefitting BJP in Uttar Pradesh as well as Uttarakhand.

Moreover, the election code of conduct is likely to be announced shortly and the issue of distributions of assets is a complex matter involving major properties, lands, canals n even hotels, government buildings etc being owned by Uttar Pradesh in Uttarakhand.

According to earlier news reports of August 2019, the then UP chief secretary Anup Kumar Pandey has, said that most of the issues pertaining to distribution of assets between UP n Uttarakhand have been settled.

He had disclosed that 95% of the issues were resolved at the meeting held in Dehradun on August 17, 2019 which includes a list of 35 pending issues concerning 11 departments.

The issues on which understanding has been reached were related to departments of energy, transport, irrigation, finance , housing, food n civil supplies, tourism, animal husbandry, fisheries, forests , industrial development and agriculture. However, thereafter no development took place and the matter of resolution of this issue has come to square one despite the fact that after achieving the separate state entity Uttarakhand has witnessed 11 CM viz Nityanand Swamy, Narain Dutt Tiwari, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, (now governor of Maharashtra), Retd. major General Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri ( twice) Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Vijay Bahuguna, Harish Rawat, Trivendra Singh Rawat, Tirath Singh Rawat and currently Pushkar Singh Dhami. Though there have been several meeting at the CM levels between UP n Uttarakhand followed by chief secretary level high powered meetings claiming resolution of the vexed issued but in practice the matter is where it was on day one. The chapter of meeting starts after change of CM in Uttarakhand but if no avail say senior officers of Uttarakhand. However, let’s see whether this arrangement really works out in the near future or gives us another blow of lingering assurance.