UP, Uttarakhand settle assets, liabilities 21 years after division

With the Bharatiya Janata Party governments in both states, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh on Thursday reached an agreement on the division of their assets and liabilities, pending since their partition 21 years ago.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who met his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on Thursday to sort out the pending issues, said an agreement has been reached on all lingering matters and they will be resolved soon.

Thanking Yogi on behalf of the people of Uttarakhand for his cooperation in sorting out the pending issue, Dhami said Uttarakhand is like a younger brother of UP.

Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000 and completed 21 years of its existence on November 9.

Elaborating upon pending issues, taken up for resolution in the meeting of the two CMs, the Uttarakhand government said in a statement that officials of two states will meet within 15 days to conduct a joint survey of 5,700 acre of land and 1,700 buildings in Uttarakhand which are under the UP's irrigation department.

After the joint survey, UP will get land as per its requirement and the rest will go to Uttarakhand, it said.

The meeting also decided to share the incomes and liabilities generated by the assets and properties of the Uttar Pradesh Awas Vikas Parishad located in Uttarakhand equally on a 50-50 basis.

The two CMs also decided to withdraw cases pending in courts and resolve them through mutual consent, the statement said.

It was also decided at the meeting that Uttar Pradesh irrigation department will reconstruct barrages at Banbasa on Indo-Nepal border and Kichcha which were damaged in natural calamities.

UP also granted its permission to conduct tourism and water sports activities in Dhaura, Baigul and Nanak Sagar water bodies in Udham Singh Nagar district and the Upper Ganga canal at Roorkee in Haridwar district.

Uttar Pradesh also agreed to clear the remaining dues of Rs 90 crore to Uttarakhand forest department immediately, the statement said, adding the bus stand land in Kichcha will be transferred by the Uttar Pradesh irrigation department to Uttarakhand within 15 days.

Uttar Pradesh Transport Corporation will also pay Rs 250 crore to Uttarakhand Transport Corporation, it added.

Hotel Alaknanda in Haridwar will be transferred to Uttarakhand, Dhami said in Lucknow.

To a question, the Uttarakhand CM said that earlier governments had also worked on resolving these pending issues by holding meetings and he is happy that today a decision has been reached through mutual consent by taking a middle path. He also thanked Yogi Adityanath for it.

On the coming assembly elections and the preparation of his for the same in his state early next year, he said work was on all the schemes, including those of the central government.

“More than the elections, the bigger challenge before us is completing the ongoing projects promptly and reaching a stage of their inauguration," he said.

"All parties are coming to the state to contest while it had been the BJP and its government only which has been working relentlessly for the past over four years," he said.

"Other parties are only making tall claims as their agenda is only the election," he said when asked about political parties like the Aam Aadmi Party showing interest in entering into the electoral fray in Uttarakhand.

Asked about the alleged infighting in his party, he said ever since he has taken over, no such thing is being discussed anywhere nor any question being raised.

The earlier government too has done good work, he said, adding: “This is also the same government only the face has changed".