Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday said the development of the country's strategically-important border areas has been prioritised by the Centre for the first time since independence.
Addressing the residents of border village Dharali in this Uttarakhand district, the Union minister for civil aviation and steel said the village is part of the Centre's "Vibrant Village Programme" for the development of the country's northern border areas of strategic importance.
"All border villages in Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh have been identified and included in the scheme on which the Centre will spend Rs 4,800 crore," he said.
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It is a matter of pride that the border villages are being accorded this kind of respect and recognition by the Centre for the first time since independence, he added.
Scindia, who also offered prayers at Kalp Kedar and on the banks of the Ganga, said Uttarakhand is like heaven.
"Apart from being home to the origins of the holy river, it is full of greenery and snow-clad mountain peaks. Nowhere else in the country is the air so pure as in Uttarakhand," he said.
Remembering the Scindia family's old association with the Himalayan state, he said it had helped the earthquake victims of Garhwal in 1803.
