U'khand govt to provide maintenance to non-earning women in family disputes: CM
The CM said, "There have been incidents of family disputes between couples that go to court during which women face issues with maintenance."
Uttarakhand government will provide money for maintenance to a woman in any family dispute involving her husband in the state, chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said on Friday in Gairsain.
The chief minister shared the information while addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing budget session on Friday.
Rawat said, "There have been incidents of family disputes between couples that go to court during which women face issues with maintenance. The government has made a provision of ₹3.60cr in this budget to provide maintenance to such women."
"However, those women who are earning won't be provided the benefit under this initiative," the chief minister added.
Addressing the media persons on the budget, Rawat said that its emphasis is on making the state, "healthy, well connected, self-reliant and secure."
"To improve the health services in the state, the government has made a provision of ₹2,313 crore which is an increase of 34 per cent in comparison to last financial year," said Rawat, adding the process to recruit 763 doctors and 2,500 nurses is underway.
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He also informed that the government has made a provision of ₹200 crore for setting up multi-speciality hospitals in the hilly areas of the state to improve the health services there.
Citing the improvement in health services in comparison to previous years, Rawat said that the "maternal mortality rate in the state has come down from 201 to 99 in one lakh. Also, the infant mortality rate has reduced to 33 from 41 per 1,000 births. About 71 per cent of the total deliveries now happen in health institutions."
On improving the connectivity in the state, the CM said, "In the last four years of the government, a total 7,731 kilometres of roads have been built in comparison to 7,529 kilometres built in the previous 16 years before our government."
"In this budget, there has been a provision of ₹385 crore for the maintenance and upgradation of roads, around ₹200 crore more than the previous financial year," he said.
He also informed about the provisions in the state budget to make the state self-reliant, including an education budget of ₹9450 crore which is about ₹300 crore than the one allotted in the previous financial year.
"We would also provide free school bags and shoes to students of class 1-8 in the government schools with a provision of ₹24 crore in this budget. Taking care of the welfare of farmers, there has been a provision of ₹1,108 crore for agriculture which is ₹100 crore more than the previous financial year," said Rawat.
He also emphasized the newly launched Ghasiyari programme to "remove the bale of hay from the head of women in hilly areas."
"To collect grass for cattle, the women in hilly areas go to the forest during which many of them die after accidentally falling off hills or in attacks by wild animals. In Chamoli district alone, 62 women died in the last 4-5 years with more than 500 injured. Under this new initiative, we would provide grass at low prices to the women so that they need to go to forests for collecting it," said Rawat.
On making the state "secure", the CM said that the government is chalking out a plan to provide self-defence training to one lakh school and college-going girls. To develop the border areas which are important from the strategic point of view, there has been a provision of ₹20 crore in the budget, apart from a provision of ₹18 crore to curb migration from the hilly areas."
On the steps taken for the development of the state summer capital, Gairsain, there is a provision of ₹350 crore.
"A growth centre and a centre of excellence would be set up in Gairsain with ₹34 crore. Similarly, a mushroom-growing centre would be developed with ₹1 crore. A helipad would also be developed with the capacity to land three choppers together. To improve road connectivity, 278 kilometres of roads will be constructed under PM Gram Swarozgar Yojana in Gairsain," said Rawat.