Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], September 12 (ANI): Uttarakhand Principal Secretary (Planning) R Meenakshi Sundaram on Saturday rejected allegations that 7,000 bighas of government land had been sold or allotted to the Uttarakhand Infrastructure Investment Development Board (UIIDB), calling the claim 'an imaginary thing'.

Addressing questions raised by political parties and some independent media reports, Sundaram said, 'Recently, some questions were raised by some independent media and some political parties about the programs and projects of UIIDB. This figure is being continuously said that 7000 bigha land, neither UIIDB has got 7000 bigha of land nor is UIIDB making any efforts to get 7000 bigha of land.'

Rejecting the allegation of a large-scale land allotment, he said, 'To say that UIIDB has received 7000 bighas of land, a huge allotment of land is going to happen here. It is an imaginary thing...'

Explaining the functioning of UIIDB, Sundaram said the board was established to facilitate investment and infrastructure development through a simplified process.

On the functioning of UIIDB, Sundaram said, 'The Infrastructure Development Board, which we have created here in Uttarakhand, is not the first state; it was first created in Punjab, then after that it was created in Gujarat... it is for providing land to the capital investors through a simple process. Public-Private Partnership projects, whether of any other department, are referred to UIIDB... I want to make it public, and apart from this, for whatever other projects we have, only 3 bids have been issued till now, and those bids have not been finalised yet.'

He said the government's broader objective was to increase investment and accelerate economic growth in Uttarakhand.

Explaining the purpose behind the government's investment and development initiatives, he said, 'We are trying to double our Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in 5 years. The investment summit was organised for the same purpose to make it, by 2047, the entire country will be developed, so Uttarakhand state should also become a developed state. This effort is going on, for this, it is very important to bring capital investment, and for bringing capital investment, some sectors were selected in which sectors we should make efforts for capital investment because we are a tourism state, there was a need for more capital investment in tourism...'

He further said the government was also seeking to expand access to quality education across the state.

'Our very traditional structure, many renowned educational institutions of the country are already present in the state, but they are in some limited geographical area of the state. Outside that geographical area, we also want good educational institutions; university education should also be available for quality education. So the purpose behind all this was to give impetus to growth and promote economic activities, thereby leading to economic progress in the state,' he added.

On the formation of the Optimal Land Utilisation Committee, Sundaram said the panel was created to simplify the process of transferring land required by one government department from another.

He said, 'The Optimal Land Utilisation Committee was formed so that there should be a simple process for acquiring the land required by one department from another department.' (ANI)