Uttarakhand BJP govt. does a U-turn on Kailash Kher payment

The BJP government, which had opposed payment to singer Kailash Kher while in the Opposition, has released a sum of ₹1.45 crore to the singer. He had produced a 12-episode serial on Kedarnath from 2014 till 2016 and it had been commissioned by the former Congress Chief Minister Harish Rawat.

The previous government had sought to produce the television serial to popularise Kedarnath dham, one of the four most revered Hindu shrines in the Himalayas, after the devastation struck it due to the massive floods in June 2013. The previous Congress government, which began the reconstruction of Kedarnath dham and other infrastructure on Char dham route wanted to send the message out that pilgrimage to Garhwal was safe after the 2013 deluge. Kailash kher had also performed at Kedarnath in October 2016.

The payment for the 12-episode serial was proposed to be made from the disaster management funds. However, the then main opposition party, BJP, opposed the payment and even questioned the rationale of hiring the singer. The BJP leaders had demanded that the said amount should be utilised for building infrastructure in Kedarpuri and for the rehabilitation of the affected population.

However, after the BJP came to power in March 2017, the situation changed dramatically and the party which was opposing the payment itself sanctioned the payment from disaster management funds.

The payment came to light because of an RTI query by BJP leader Ajendra Ajay from Rudraprayag district. After a hue and cry, an embarrassed state BJP chief Ajay Bhatt took up the matter with the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat. But, more interestingly, the payment of ₹1.45 crore was made to Kailash Entertainment Private limited, a company owned by Kailash Kher from the Information department funds instead of disaster management funds.