Gairsain in Chamoli district was formally declared as the summer capital of Uttarakhand, with Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat saying it would be developed as an ideal seat of the administration.

Rawat had announced making Gairsain the second capital, besides Dehradun, during the budget session of the assembly on March 4.

A notification was issued by chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh after Governor Baby Rani Maurya gave her assent to the move.

The CM dedicated the summer capital status to Gairsain to the thousands of men and women of Uttarakhand who fought for its statehood.

Action plan to develop infrastructure

The state is divided into two divisions — Garhwal and Kumaon — with 13 districts. The winter capital of Uttarakhand is Dehradun, the largest city of the state.

The demand for this capital had been raging since the 1990s, when the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal asked the Congress party for Gairsain as the to-be state’s capital. However, Dehradun was named as the capital when the state was formed on November 9, 2000.

Making Gairsain the summer capital of the state was part of the BJP’s vision document for the 2017 assembly election.

On March 4, 2020, state CM Rawat declared Gairsain as the new summer capital of the state in the assembly.

Gairsain is located in Chamoli district, around 270 km away from Dehradun.

Expressing happiness at the formal declaration, Rawat said Gairsain would be developed as the ideal capital of a hill state.

Rawat said an action plan was being prepared to create suitable basic infrastructure there in consultation with planners and experts.

Work on creating an e-Assembly at Gairsain is underway so that files need not be taken there and sessions are conducted in a paperless way, he said, adding that it would promote paperless work culture in the state.

A lake is being developed on the Ramganga, a tributary of the Ganga, to streamline water supply in Gairsain and adjoining areas, including Bhararisain where the assembly is located, Rawat said.

According to the CM, work is also in progress on strengthening connectivity in Gairsain.

Rawat added that roads connecting Gairsain and Bhararisain would be widened as required, and work on the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag railway project, which would take tracks very near to Gairsain, was also going on rapidly.

Other states/UTs with multiple capitals

Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu & Kashmir has two capitals. Srinagar is the summer capital and Jammu is the winter capital. There is a process called Darbar Move - a practice of bi-annual shifting of the state capital between Jammu and Srinagar.

The Darbar Move - under which the state government functions in Jammu during six winter months and in Srinagar during summer - was started by Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1872 to escape extreme weather conditions in the two regions of the state. However, the practice was continued even after Independence with the aim of providing governance benefits to both Kashmir and Jammu regions for six months by turns.

While Jammu and Srinagar cities benefit from this practice as roads and other infrastructure get the basic minimum repairs done on an annual basis, the Darbar Move incurs expenditure of crores of rupees that could have been used for other productive activities every year.

The practice involves moving voluminous files between Jammu and Srinagar and thousands of employees between the two cities in hundreds of buses and trucks.

Maharashtra

Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra and Nagpur is the second capital. Nagpur hosts the winter session of the legislature every year while monsoon and budget sessions are held in Mumbai. As per the Nagpur Pact of 1953, which eventually led to the creation of Maharashtra, Nagpur was accorded the status of second capital. It was decided that one of the sessions of the legislature will be held in Nagpur.

Himachal Pradesh

In 2017, the then Himachal Pradesh chief minister, Virbharda Singh, announced Dharamshala as the second capital of the hill state. He said that the people of these areas would benefit from the decision and they would not be required to travel long distances to come to Shimla for official work. Dharamshala already figured prominently in national and international map due to its significance owing to many reasons, including being the abode of Tibetan spiritual head, the Dalai Lama.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store