The Congress-led State Government has stooped down to “hijacking” developmental and other works constructed by the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun and not even invite anyone from the urban local body to the unveiling of statehood martyrs' statues and the building the same are placed in. Stating this, the Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli said that on this state foundation day, the state had entered ‘youth’, having seen some development since its creation in 2000 but on the other hand, the proclivity to usurp credit for work done by others, especially regarding statehood movement martyrs is a disappointment which the mayor said he had also communicated to the chief minister. The State Government is misleading the people through its spree of inaugurations and foundation laying ceremonies for various ‘developmental’ works, alleged the mayor.
Addressing the media at his office here on Wednesday, the Dehradun mayor said, “Sixteen years after state formation marks the transit of the state’s 'age-slot' from ‘childhood’ to ‘youth’. The period since creation of the state has seen some developments with the GDP increasing from three at the time of state creation to the current seven per cent. However, the spree of inaugurations and unveiling foundations is such that the chief minister unveiled the statues of statehood martyrs near the Shaheed Sthal with the culture department sending not a single invitation to the municipal corporation — which is the executing agency for this task – or to me as a statehood activist or in my capacity of Dehradun Mayor, which is disappointing. The MCD has so far borne ` 15 lakh cost on the statues of statehood movement martyrs and the hall inaugurated by the CM but the MCD itself was kept out of the loop at the inauguration,” said Chamoli, while also accusing the State Government of attempting to usurp credit for various developmental works of the municipal corporation and Union government.
lambasting the State Government, the Dehradun mayor said that the Congress was misleading the public. He said, “Recently, a programme was held to inaugurate or unveil foundations for various developmental works amounting to about ` 92 crore in the Dharmpur Vidhan Sabha constituency area. In view of the coming Vidhan Sabha elections, the model code of conduct is expected to be implemented in the near future. How will the Congress-led State Government — which failed to execute the desired works in years—complete the said work within a few monthsIJ The CM is focusing on making announcements, inaugurating or unveiling foundation for various works. I will consider him a successful CM even if he is able to read the entire list of announcements he has made so far,” said Chamoli. The Dehradun mayor also exhorted the public to identify and render powerless, the politicians claiming false credit with an eye on electoral gains.