‘Corruption my biggest challenge’
It’s early days, but CM T.S. Rawat is already making things move in his state
Invariably compared with his Uttar Pradesh counterpart, Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat may not possess Yogi Adityanath’s belligerence, but the 56-year-old former RSS pracharak has proved he’s got the gumption to stand up to ‘bullying’ from Delhi.
“I knew fighting corruption would be my biggest challenge,” says Rawat, who took charge of the state just over a hundred days ago. And as if on cue, less than a week after he was sworn in, he was confronted with what is now commonly referred to as the ‘NH74 scam’—allegations of misappropriation of funds in the acquisition of land to widen a 300 km stretch of highway between Haridwar and Bareilly.
“Shocking,” says Rawat, describing the preliminary probe findings that between 2013 and 2016, several hundred crores of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) funds were siphoned off by showing agricultural land as non-agricultural to claim inflated
compensations. “Land use was changed to pay out 20 to 40 times what should have been paid,” he says.
Rawat was quick to seek a CBI probe. Although he doesn’t say it in so many words, there was pressure to go slow. On May 25, Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari wrote to Rawat, objecting to the probe implicating NHAI officials. Gadkari not only demanded “immediate corrective measures” (read withdrawal of the request for a CBI probe), but also threatened to “re-examine the usefulness of undertaking more [highway] projects in the state”.
“His (Gadkari’s) position was that NHAI had no role in land acquisition and that its officers would be demoralised, which could affect the progress of work,” Rawat told india today in Dehradun on July 2. Rawat called on
Gadkari in New Delhi on May 25. “He (Gadkari) agreed action must be taken for any wrongdoing,” he said. A little over a month later, the CBI probe into the scam is on course.
Rawat has been similarly hard-headed in tackling other challenges. He has refused to buckle under pressure to announce a farm loan waiver. “Uttarakhand’s total economic resources stand at Rs 19,000 crore a year. The waiver would cost Rs 11,000 crore. My state will completely collapse if we do it,” he reasons. Instead, he’s looking at making mountain farming sustainable and profitable. His government has also announced minimal interest farm loans of Rs 1 lakh. “With a little help, our farmers can reap profits from their off-season produce, which gets a better price,” says Rawat.
The CM’s first budget also talks of road connectivity by 2019 for every village with a population of 250, electricity to 150,000 rural homes and reviving primary and block-level health centres. The efforts have drawn praise from even Congress leader and former CM Harish Rawat: “He’s a tough administrator and a man of good intention.”
RAWAT HAS PROVED HE CAN STAND HIS GROUND TO ‘BULLYING’ FROM DELHI