CM: Nothing official about Rohingyas in Haridwar

Tribune News Service 

Dehradun, August 1 

Uttarakhand Chief Minister TS Rawat on Wednesday downplayed the claims made by one of his party MLAs about the Rohingyas settling down in Haridwar.

“There are no official reports, confirming their  settlement in  Haridwar, though it was brought to my notice by the BJP MLA,” Rawat told reporters.

 BJP MLA Kunwar Pranav Champion had raised the issue and said the matter need to be investigated by intelligence agencies. “I  have apprised the Chief Minister about the matter and will also discuss the issue with the Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi,” said Champion.

Rawat had assigned a day for meeting the MLAs but only five BJP MLAs  turned up. They included Mahindra Bhatt (Badrinath MLA), Kunwar Pranav Champion (Khanpur MLA), Navin Dumka (Lal Kuan MLA), Dilip Singh Rawat (Lansdowne MLA)  and Bharat Choudhury (Rudraprayag MLA).  

Later Rawat reviewed the situation in the disaster-sensitive Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Bageshwar, Champawat, Pithoragarh, Tehri Garhwal and Pauri Garhwal  through video conferencing in the  Secretariat.

He sought information from the District Magistrates about the progress of the disbursal of the compensation amount to those affected.  An amount of  Rs 1 lakh is being disbursed to people  from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund whose shops had been damaged during the recent downpour.