Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami of Uttarakhand has approved a multi-crore infrastructure and religious-site development package spanning several districts of the state, the Chief Minister's Office of Uttarakhand announced on Saturday, 11 July 2026. The sanctions cover temple beautification, road construction, a river bridge, and police housing across Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital, and Haridwar districts.

What Was Sanctioned

In the religious infrastructure segment, Rs 97.09 lakh has been approved for development works at Dhwaj Jayanti Mata Mandir in the Pithoragarh assembly constituency to improve pilgrim facilities. Rs 22.00 lakh has been sanctioned for beautification, boundary wall construction, and a dharamshala at Budheshwar Mandir in Gram Panchayat Bhaudi under Vikas Khand Munakot.

A dedicated Chhath Puja site is to be built on four bighas of land at Gram Bhood Maholiya in the Khatima assembly constituency of Udham Singh Nagar, with Rs 2.70 crore sanctioned for the purpose. Additionally, Rs 54.81 lakh has been approved for the development of Dwiteey Kedar Shri Madmaheshwar Dham in the Kedarnath assembly constituency of Rudraprayag district.

Road and Bridge Projects

On the connectivity front, Rs 62.19 lakh has been sanctioned for construction of an internal cement-concrete (CC) road from Beda to Bhattiyani Meltinath in Pithoragarh. A significant bridge project has also been approved: a 250-metre span PSC bridge over the Gola river connecting Gram Suryanagar and Gram Shantipuri No. 4 in the Sitarganj assembly constituency of Udham Singh Nagar, at a cost of Rs 18.78 crore.

In Nainital district, Rs 2.46 crore has been approved for improvement works on the Bhimtal–Naukuchiatal motor road (district road) from kilometre 1 to 6 under the state plan, using 30 MMBC technology. For Haridwar district, Rs 66.68 lakh has been sanctioned for PC road works on the Akbarpur–Khundewali–Lodiwala–Jabrera Nagar Panchayat route under the state plan.

Police Housing in Haridwar

CM Dhami also approved the construction of six Type-III residential units at Thana Shyampur in Haridwar district at a total cost of Rs 3.10 crore. The first instalment of Rs 1.24 crore has been released to begin construction.

Context and Policy Backdrop

The approvals reflect a pattern consistent with Uttarakhand's ongoing push to upgrade last-mile connectivity and religious tourism infrastructure across its hill and terai districts. Madmaheshwar Dham, one of the Panch Kedar temples, has been part of phased development plans aligned with the broader Char Dham pilgrimage corridor upgrades initiated since 2016. The dedicated Chhath Puja site in Khatima addresses the cultural needs of the plains-district population, where the festival sees large gatherings.

The bundling of temple development, rural road works, a river bridge, and police housing in a single approval round is characteristic of the Dhami government's approach of consolidating district-level demands into periodic sanction packages. The Gola river bridge in Sitarganj, at Rs 18.78 crore, is the single largest outlay in this package and is expected to improve inter-village connectivity in the Udham Singh Nagar terai belt.

What to Watch

Tendering timelines and contractor appointments for the sanctioned projects — particularly the Gola river PSC bridge and the Madmaheshwar Dham development — will determine actual on-ground progress. The state assembly's supplementary budget sessions are expected to provide further clarity on fund disbursement schedules. Progress on the Shyampur police housing project will be tracked against the phased instalment structure already built into the sanction order.