Dehradun Mar 29 PTI The first session of Uttarakhands newly-elected Assembly began here on Tuesday with Governor Lieutenant General retired Gurmit Singhs address to the House summing up the steps taken for the states development during the current financial year and spelling out the development goals for the next fiscalDescribing the improvement of health facilities as the state governments top priority Singh spoke about the steps being taken to strengthen hospitals and increase the availability of doctorsA total of 403 doctors have been selected under the Provincial Medical Health Service cadre X-ray technicians have been deployed in remote areas and the process of filling vacancies for 40 dental hygienists is underway he said adding that an in-principle approval has also been given to upgrade the community health centres of Someshwar in Almora district and Raipur in Dehradun district into 100-bed hospitalsMaternal and child health services are also improving in the state as a result of the governments efforts Singh saidUnder the Mukhyamantri Anchal Amrit Yojana 256 lakh children aged 3-6 years coming to the anganwadi centres are being provided milk for four days a week he addedThe governor also made a special mention of the Mukhyamantri Vatsalya Yojana under which children who lost their parents or guardians to COVID-19 are to be paid a monthly allowance of Rs 3000 up to the age of 21Talking about the innovations and experiments being made in the field of education Singh said 189 Atal Utkrisht Government Secondary schools conceived as model schools have been made operational besides the establishment of 14 new government colleges and money distributed among the students of government colleges through direct benefit transfer for buying tablet computersVillages with over 50 per cent of Scheduled Caste SC population have been selected for re-development under the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram YojanaThe pension amount for former soldiers who fought in World War II and their widows has been increased from Rs 8000 per month to Rs 10000 and a martyrs memorial is being built at Guniyalgaon in Dehradun with the soil collected from the courtyards of soldiers who died fighting for the country the governor saidPraising the state government for its endeavours in the field of air connectivity he said the Uttarakhand civil aviation department was given an award under the Most Proactive State category for successfully conducting the Regional Connectivity Scheme under which heliports are being constructed at identified spots throughout the state for helicopter servicesThe governor highlighted the steps being taken to create better disaster management facilities in the state such as early warning systems and doppler radars being installed for floods and other disaster alertsThe doppler radar installed at Mukteshwar in Nainital district has begun operating successfully while work is underway for installing a doppler radar each in Surkanda and Lansdowne he saidI have tried to sum up the development initiatives taken by our government in the last financial year and the ones in the pipeline during the next The government is committed to work with dedication to achieve its goals We will make efforts to maintain social harmony so that all sections of the society live in peace with each other Singh said PTI ALM RC