With the State Government toughening rules for identification of the Statehood activists, just 11 of 186 applications have been taken up during the meeting of the Statehood freedom fighters’ identification committee held in Nainital on Tuesday.
The Nainital district administration received 949 applications, in all, seeking status of statehood activists. Notably, one person was considered as a statehood activist out of 64 applications reviewed in an earlier meeting. Now, the scrutiny of 186 applications done on Tuesday has found 11 as fulfilling the criteria meant for such selection.
However, Deepak Rawat, district magistrate, Nainital, said after the meeting that those applicants who think they can prove their eligibility for the same should submit the proofs directly at the meeting.
Further, the administration also advised the applicants to submit their contact numbers along with their applications so that such applicants could be contacted, if needed.
Rawat further said mere publication of names in any of the newspapers about his or her role in the statehood movement will no longer be accepted as a criterion for the process of identification as per the new government order. It is learnt that in the absence of adequate evidences, some local intelligence unit (lIU) reports are found attached with multiple applications.
It was decided in the meeting that such applicants whose lIU reports match will be called to the meeting for clarification before taking a final call, informed the DM.
Refrain runs among many of the statehood activists that their contribution to the formation of the State are not being duly recognised. They resort to agitation off and on to draw the attention of the State Government.
Eleven applicants who have been identified as statehood activists in Tuesday’s meeting are Neeraj Pant, Nandi Kargeti, Neema Upadhyay, Kamla Joshi, S S latwal, Janki Padliya, N C Fulara, V S Dangwal, Munni Naugai, Kanta Joshi and Chandra Tiwari.