‘Wrong & misleading’: Cong questions economic survey by U’khand govt

Dehradun: Congress MLA from Manglaur in Haridwar district, Qazi Nizamuddin, on Friday accused Uttarakhand govt of presenting "wrong and misleading" data to people while raising questions against the economic survey released by the state govt on Thursday."Why was the survey not tabled in the assembly?" he asked while claiming that several govt departments, including social welfare and energy, have not been able to utilise funds allocated to them. "The comptroller and auditor general (CAG) report suggests that nearly 41% of the posts in the healthcare sector lay vacant," he said.He said that while the govt was making tall claims about improvements in the Human Development Index, air quality in Dehradun was increasingly becoming polluted. "Senior officials, ministers and MLAs cannot drink unfiltered water, yet they boast about human development. According to 2023 data released by the Union home ministry in Sept 2025, the sex ratio at birth in Uttarakhand was the most dismal compared to other states, standing at 868 women per 1,000 men," he said."If the economic data is so strong and positive, then why is migration from rural areas of the state not stopping? This means that the data the govt is presenting does not exist on the ground anywhere," Nizamuddin said."The total number of schools in 2017 was 17,753, which has now been reduced to 16,018," Nizamuddin said while quoting a reply in Lok Sabha in Feb this year. He pointed out that 25% of the expected budget of Rs 1.11 lakh crore for the financial year 2026-27 will go towards paying interest and loan EMIs. "The loan on the state in 2017 was Rs 44,000 crore and now it is over Rs 1 lakh crore," he added.Nizamuddin said the budget session should be of at least 15 to 20 days, and that by holding a five-day session, the BJP govt was trying to hush up things and present half-baked information on the budget and other issues.The survey, prepared in collaboration with the National Council of Applied Economic Research indicated that the state's economy has grown 1.5 times over the past four years, with the state's gross state domestic product rising from Rs 2.54 lakh crore in 2022 to over Rs 3.81 lakh crore in 2024-25. The survey also showed a rise in per capita income, which increased from Rs 1.94 lakh in 2022 to Rs 2.73 lakh in 2024-25.