The Uttarakhand Rajya Nirman Andolankari Samman Parishad vice-chairman Dhirendra Pratap has accused the Central Government of being apathetic towards Uttarakhand. He has also sought a special package of Rs10,000 crore from the Centre for establishing Gairsain as the State Capital. Returning from a tour of various organisational districts of the Congress with Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyaya, Pratap pointed out that about a fortnight had passed since Chief Minister Harish Rawat had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a special package of Rs4,000 crore for disaster related and other works. However, the Central Government has yet to announce any such special package for the State.
Citing this as a sign of the Central Government’s bias against the State, Pratap said, “On the one hand the BJP leaders of Uttarakhand continue to accuse the State Government of being apathetic towards developmental works while on the other hand the Central Government continues to ignored the State’s development plans. The five BJP MPs from Uttarakhand are also turning a blind eye to the needs of the State,” he added.
Considerable resources are needed for maintaining Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines but the Centre is not even eager to facilitate funds for works related to such important pilgrimage centres which in turn is affected the developmental works of the State government. Regarding the efforts aimed at establishing Gairsain as the State capital, Pratap has demanded that the Central Government provide an initial package of Rs10,000 crore to enable the State government to develop a capital in Gairsain as envisioned during the Statehood movement. “None of the five BJP MPs including former Chief Ministers BC Khanduri, BS Koshyari and Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ had been given a berth in the Union Cabinet which the people of Uttarakhand had seen as apathy towards the State and voted for the Congress in the recent Assembly bypolls. The Centre is trying to avenge the trashing received by the BJP in the Assembly bypolls by being apathetic towards Uttarakhand’s problems,” averred Pratap.