In a single sweep of approvals on Thursday, October 15, 2026, the Chief Minister's Office of Uttarakhand announced that Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami sanctioned over ₹124 crore across three distinct welfare heads — free school textbooks, rural road construction, and sports infrastructure — signalling a broad-front push on both human capital and physical development in the hill state.

₹124 crore in free textbooks for Classes 9–12

The largest single sanction — ₹52.21 crore — is earmarked to provide free textbooks to students of general, Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Caste, and Scheduled Tribe categories studying in Classes 9 to 12 in government-aided and non-government-aided secondary schools across Uttarakhand. A second approval of ₹72 crore covers teaching materials and free textbooks under the Elementary Education Department for the current financial year. Together, the two education outlays add up to ₹124.21 crore — the centrepiece of Thursday's announcements.

Uttarakhand has historically used free-textbook programmes as a retention tool, particularly in its remote hill districts where the cost of schooling materials can tip families toward pulling children out of school. Covering all four social categories — general, OBC, SC, and ST — in a single order broadens the reach well beyond targeted-poverty schemes.

Rural roads: Pithoragarh and Udham Singh Nagar get funds

CM Dhami also cleared two rural-road projects. In the hilly Pithoragarh district, a ₹80 lakh sanction — with a first instalment of ₹48 lakh released immediately — will fund the construction of an internal concrete road in Gram Panchayat Bhautadi, under Development Block Kanali China in the Didihat Assembly constituency. The second road project, in the plains district of Udham Singh Nagar, allocates ₹4.15 crore for a 5-kilometre tiled road with drainage in Dineshpur Nagar Panchayat under Gadarpur Assembly constituency. The pairing of a remote mountain village with a Terai township illustrates the government's stated intent to balance hill-plain development priorities.

Haldwani sports complex gets ₹9.35 crore, ₹1 crore first tranche

The third pillar of Thursday's approvals targets sports infrastructure. CM Dhami sanctioned ₹9.35 crore for construction work at the Indira Gandhi International Sports Complex, Gaulapar, Haldwani, under the Integrated Sports Infrastructure Project. A first instalment of ₹1 crore has been cleared for the current financial year. Haldwani, Uttarakhand's largest commercial centre in the Kumaon division, hosts the complex at Gaulapar — and its phased upgrade has been a recurring commitment in state budget cycles, reflecting ambitions to create a regional sporting hub capable of hosting competitive events.

The real test of Thursday's announcements will come in the utilisation reports: whether textbook funds reach remote classrooms before the academic session closes, whether Bhautadi's concrete road breaks ground before the Himalayan winter arrives, and whether Haldwani's sports complex advances beyond its first instalment. In Uttarakhand's terrain and fiscal history, sanction is the starting line — delivery is the race.