The Congress will stage a series of demonstrations from January 7 to 20 in all the district headquarters of Uttarakhand to protest against price rise, terrorism and the budgetary cuts made by the Central Government in the Central financial allocations to Uttarakhand. A party delegation led by Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay will submit a memorandum on these issues to the President of India through Governor KK Paul on Tuesday. Upadhyay said this while addressing the media on Monday.
Strongly condemning the terrorist attack in Pathankot, the PCC chief said that the Congress supports the government in all measures for boosting national security. He said, “We will be submitting a memorandum to the governor, raising three main issues of terrorism, price rise and cuts in central fund allocations to Uttarakhand. In view of the price rise- especially of lPG, the option of holding a State wide bandh was being considered but we have altered the form of protest.
The congress will hold a series of protests in all district headquarters of the State on the three main issues. The protests will begin on January 7 in Rudraprayag and Udham Singh Nagar followed by similar demonstrations in Chamoli and Nainital on January 9, Tehri and Pithoragarh on January 11, Pauri and Almora on January 13, Uttarkashi and Champawat on January 15, Haridwar and Bageshwar on January 17 and in Dehradun on January 19.”
The PCC chief questioned reports of a private university in Dehradun being ‘sold’ for `500 crore without clearance from the Vidhan Sabha. He said, “We demand a detailed inquiry into this affair. Apart from this, we maintain our demand for bringing out in the public domain, the identities of persons and organisations allotted Government land for various purposes.
As fewer Uttarakhand natives reaching the top level in provincial civil services due to lesser inclusion of native aspects in the question paper, we also demand that the State’s history, geography and other relevant aspects also be included in the syllabus. Apart from this we also demand that the provision for 70 per cent job reservation for locals in enterprises established in Uttarakhand as done in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh. A government order to this affect was issued in the past but has not been implemented in Uttarakhand so far,” said Upadhyay.
The PCC chief blamed central budgetary cuts for the problems being faced in block and district Panchayats. Stating that the UPA Government had made a commitment to provide `150 crore for the sugarcane farmers of Uttarakhand, he said that this commitment is not being honoured by the present government at Centre. PCC vice president Jot Singh Bisht and other party leaders were also present at the Press conference.