Yogi Adityanath and Trivendra Singh Rawat must fasttrack pending division of assets between UP, Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand's Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat met with Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath in Lucknow on Monday to discuss the the division of liabilities and assets pending between Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Ever since the state came into being in November 2000, pending issues among departments of both states have caused problems in the execution of certain development plans for the hill-state.

Till date, the two states have been unable to reach final decisions and the the issues have been left unresolved. It is the first time in the history, that all the governments in Centre and both the states are of same party and it is likely that it will pave the way for better coordination, resolving the long pending issues.

(Left) Trivendra Singh Rawat (Right) Yogi Adityanath — together, the two ministers should work fast to revolve pending issues between Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

More than a dozen departments have assets and liabilities, but are yet to be divided, such as the Ministries of Irrigation, Power, Transport, Finance, Housing, food and Civil Supplies, Home, Tourism, Training and technical Education, Information and Public Relations, Animal Husbandry, Rural Development, Forest, Agriculture, social welfare and Drinking Water and Sanitation.

Uttarakhand is the source of many rivers, division of water related resources as canals, dams and barrages along with land of irrigation department, has been the apple of discord between both the states. 28 canals of Haridwar district and nine canals of Udham Singh Nagar district falls in the geographical boundaries of Uttarakhand and many residential complexes, guesthouses which are still under the control of the Uttar Pradesh irrigation department are yet to hand over to Uttarakhand irrigation department. Recently, after Uttarakhand Assembly election, the state has taken the control of 28 canals and 266 residential buildings in the state. According to a report, the Uttar Pradesh irrigation department would still have the ownership of 'Kumbh Mela Land' in Haridwar along with Bhimgoda barrage. Many important places and land including VIP ghat and Alaknanda Ghat are under control of Uttar Pradesh irrigation department.

Consensus over Jamrani dam has been hanged between two states. Once it is executed then power woes would be solved for another 20 years with this project that is also expected to fulfill the power demand of neighboring states like Delhi and Haryana.

In power department, the employees of Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd are yet to receive their pending GPF amount from Uttar Pradesh. In transport, the division of assets of state guest houses in Delhi and Lucknow is not clear till date. The Awas Vikaas department of Uttarakhand is still looking for handover of its projects and property worth Rs 60.91 crores which is under the control of Uttar Pradesh Awas and Vikaas Parishad. As far the home department is concerned, 27,000 square feet land in Dharchula (Pithoragarh) is still under control of Uttar Pradesh police and is yet to be handed over to the Uttarakhand police.

In the industrial development, Uttar Pradesh yet to pay the amount of interest which is more than 15 crore, while assets of UPSIDC are still undivided. In social welfare, Uttar Pradesh backward finance and development has claimed the amount of Rs 1.36 crore on Uttarakhand department. Uttar Pradesh seed development Ltd and Uttarakhand seed development department are still under legal dispute over assets and liabilities. Central Silk Board that has provided the loan of Rs 15 lakh in 1985, has increased up to Rs 66 lakh and now it has to be divided between Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh as a liability, payment of passenger tax in transport department, handing over the Kichcha bus station and sorting out the financial issues related to payment of pension and GPF, very soon. Demarcating the liabilities and assets can save both the states from undue disputes and take them to new heights in the near future.