The land crunch appeared to have put a spanner in Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’s dream project to establish AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) grams or villages in all the 13 districts of the hill state.
An investment of Rs 650 crore is proposed in these AYUSH grams, which will have a hospital, a wellness centre, a hotel, a herbal garden, a yoga centre, a drug manufacturing unit and pharmacy among various other features.
As of now, the government has been able to sign just one memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Kolkata-based Emami group last year for setting up the first ayush gram in Bhawali within the Nainital district.
But after the signing of the MoU, there had been no progress because the land lease agreement with Emami has not been signed, the sources said.
In addition to this, the government claimed to have identified land in Champawat and Pithoragarh districts for the establishment of these grams. However, the government is yet to get forest and environmental clearances in this regard.
In the rest of the 10 districts also, the government has been unable to identify land for this purpose. “We are trying our best to identify lands in the remaining districts,” said a government official.
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During the past few months, the Chief Minister, who has been closely monitoring various developmental projects, has told the concerned officials to search for land on top priority basis. However, there is hardly any success so far.
The government is giving a total of 10 acres of the Bhawali sanatorium’s land for the purpose of developing the AYUSH gram.
The key feature of these grams will be its herbal garden which would be setup at around 1,000-1,200 sq metre area will also have a specialised research centre to focus on the local herbs and medicinal plants. In the herbal garden, there will be a provision for training and skill development facilities for local people in order to create new employment and business opportunities. An innovative hospital complete with all the five features of AYUSH ie Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy would be established.
According to government sources, an investment of Rs 50 crore is proposed with each AYUSH gram project.