The Uttarakhand Congress questioned the Pushkar Singh Dhami government’s plan to hold cabinet meetings in border districts. Spokesperson Garima Mehra Dasauni said, "People in border areas want results, not announcements." She accused the government of using these regions for political showcases ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections instead of fixing issues.
DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand Congress has questioned the Pushkar Singh Dhami government's plan to hold cabinet meetings in border districts, accusing it of turning a region facing migration and gaps in essential services into a political showcase ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.
State Congress chief spokesperson Garima Mehra Dasauni said border districts could not be treated as venues for "election tours and photo opportunities". Their challenges, she said, were tied to national security, livelihoods, healthcare and basic infrastructure.
"The government is talking about cabinet meetings in border areas with an eye on the 2027 elections. But where was it when villagers had to carry pregnant women and elderly people for kilometres over mountain paths to reach hospitals?" she asked.
Dasauni also raised concerns about attacks by wild animals and the abandonment of villages. People had continued to leave because of inadequate jobs, roads, schools and healthcare, she said.
"Holding a cabinet meeting in a border district does not strengthen the border," she said. "That will happen when young people no longer have to migrate for work, patients do not have to rush to district headquarters for treatment, and villages have roads, communication links and other essential facilities."
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The Congress spokesperson urged the government to publish a record of its previous cabinet announcements for border areas, specifying how many had been implemented. She also sought data on local jobs created, villages still lacking basic services and the number of young people who had benefited from livelihood schemes.
If the government was serious about the proposed meetings, she said, it should release time-bound action plans and public progress reports on the decisions taken at each one.
Dasauni cited a January 2026 agreement between the state government and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police under the Swasth Seema Abhiyan, aimed at strengthening primary healthcare in 108 border villages across Pithoragarh, Chamoli and Uttarkashi.
"The government should tell people the present status of that campaign and how many villages have actually received healthcare services," she said.
Calling inhabited border villages vital to national security, Dasauni said residents should not be forced to leave because they lacked roads, hospitals, schools, jobs or connectivity.
She proposed public hearings in the districts before any cabinet meeting, followed by district-wise action reports with firm deadlines. "People in border areas want results, not announcements," she said.
The BJP government, she added, should clarify whether the meetings were intended to serve the public or prepare for the 2027 election. "The border has come to mind as elections approach. Its people are asking: where were you for the past nine and a half years?," she asked.