New Delhi, Oct. 5 -- Uttarakhand held a state cabinet meeting in Banbasa, a town near the India-Nepal international border in Champawat district, as the state government seeks to take high-level decision-making beyond Dehradun and bring local development priorities into the policy process.

The meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami at the NHPC complex in Banbasa, was the first cabinet meeting to be held in Champawat district. Dhami said similar meetings would be organised in other districts, rather than limiting cabinet deliberations to the state capital.

The move is intended to provide the state government with greater exposure to local infrastructure requirements, administrative challenges and development priorities in...