In his first visit to the national capital after taking oath as the Uttarakhand Chief Minister for a second term, Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, and submitted a memorandum of demands pertaining to the hilly State.
During his meeting with Mr. Modi, Mr. Dhami sought an increase in the duration of GST compensation for Uttarakhand due to the State's limited financial resources and urged for a centre each of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research and National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research to boost innovation and research there, a statement said.
The demands also included a horticulture package of ₹2,000 crore on the lines of the one for Kashmir and an infrastructure project to link various temples and ancient sites in the State's Kumaon division like the 'Chardham' project.
Mr. Dhami also pushed for air services from Pithoragarh and submitted demands related to rail services as well, among various other development requests, it said.
In the meeting with Home Minister Shah, the Chief Minister pushed for the Centre's help in rolling out "him prahari" scheme in the regions around the International Border. This will help in curbing migration from the border areas, he said.
He also submitted a list of demands in the meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Mr. Dhami also met BJP president J.P. Nadda.
After taking oath as Chief Minister following the BJP's big win in the State polls, Mr. Dhami will have to be elected to the Assembly within six months as he had lost from his seat Khatima.
A decision on the seat which will be vacated by the sitting legislator will be taken soon.
