Adityanath promises solution to bifurcation assets stand-off in two months

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Monday that the disputes related to assets distribution between the State and neighbouring Uttarakhand — pending for the last 17 to 18 years since the latter was carved out of U.P. — will be resolved in two months.

“Both States have arrived at a consensus over all pending matters after the recent round of talks between the Chief Secretaries and they will be resolved in two months,” Mr. Adityanath said after laying the foundation stone of a 100-room tourist guest house owned by Uttar Pradesh government here.

Ownership dispute

The U.P. CM also announced that the Alaknanda hotel, over which the two States have long been embroiled in an ownership dispute, will belong to Uttarakhand.

The tourist guest house whose foundation stone was laid by Mr. Adityanath stands next to the Alaknanda hotel. The U.P. Chief Minister said he has plans to build one guest house for pilgrims at Badrinath.

He said the credit for the resolution of long-pending assets distribution issues between the two States went to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, who began taking positive steps after taking over.

Mr. Adityanath said both States will work together to develop new tourist destinations. The U.P. Chief Minister urged his Uttarakhand counterpart to release maximum water into the Ganga for next year’s Kumbh in Allahabad and extended an invitation to him, his Cabinet colleagues and all saints and seers to attend the festival.

He said the Kanwar mela road along Gangnahar in Haridwar will be expanded up to Ghaziabad.

Ganga Aarti

Earlier, accompanied by Mr. Rawat, Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj, Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik and his own Cabinet colleague Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Mr. Adityanath performed a Ganga Aarti at the Har ki Pauri.

The Uttarakhand Chief Minister expressed his gratitude to his U.P. counterpart for active cooperation in resolving the assets-related disputes.

Yoga guru Ramdev, who also participated in the programme, said the States were like brothers and all pending issues between them should be resolved with goodwill.