The Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay has written a letter to the Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah asking him to take cognisance of issues affecting Uttarakhand and its people during his tour of the State. He has urged Shah to exert pressure on the BJP-led Central Government to work for redressal of major issues affecting Uttarakhand.
According to the PCC vice-president Jot Singh Bisht, the PCC chief in his letter to Shah introduces the State as a land of people who have always displayed a welcoming attitude while living in difficult geographical terrain and conditions. “The Cenre is creating hurdles in the developmental journey of the State by raising financial and political problems in front of the Congress-led State Government struggling with the limited resources at its disposal to ensure the welfare of the people. The Uttarakhand PCC had in December 2014 and again in March 2015 staged protest demonstrations twice at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and had informed the Prime Minister in writing about the various issues being faced by the people in Uttarakhand. However, the Central government has remained apathetic to the issues raised in our memorandums with no proactive decision being taken by the Centre on any of the issues so far,” stated the PCC chief.
He went on to remind Shah that during campaigning for the lok Sabha elections, the Prime Minister and his party had made promises to the people of Uttarakhand, based on which the people had elected the BJP candidates from all the five lok Sabha constituencies of the State hoping for the betterment of the State and its people.
“However, the people of Uttarakhand and the nation now feel disappointed because your Government has not taken one step towards fulfilling the promises made to the public. Through your offices, the Uttarakhand PCC committed to welfare of the state and its people, would like to elicit the attention of and necessary action by the BJP-led Central Government. A middle Himalaya State like Uttarakhand, where barring a few religious traditions, most conditions are in accordance with the standards set by the Union Government which should bring all the residents of Uttarakhand under the purview of job reservatin in Central Government services. A reservation facility akin to the one in Jaunsar Bhabar region should be implemented throughout the state. Former prime minister Indira Gandhi had facilitated budgetary provision to the entire Uttarakhand region as a special area and after state formation Uttarakhand had the status of special category state which was discontinued,” stated the PCC chief. He also reiterated the demand for at least Rs 10,000 approval from the Centre for establishing the permanent State capital. He also demanded withdrawal of the budgetary cuts amounting to about Rs 5,000 crore made by the centre in allocations to the state. Citing Ganga and other rivers flowing from the state and its rich environment, Upadhyay also sought swift approval for the green bonus proposal submitted to the Centre by the State.