In view of the increasing financial burden on the State, the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Panwar faction) has urged the Uttarakhand Government to end pension scheme to all Statehood activists.
The party’s central general secretary Anup Negi said that all those living in what is now Uttarakhand had participated in the struggle for Statehood which was not aimed at ensuring special privileges and pensions for activists. However, in order to weaken the united Statehood activists, successive State Governments headed by national parties created factions within activists by providing Government jobs and pensions to some of the Statehood activists.
He said, “As a result of this, a large number of people are now agitating in support of their demand for being identified as Statehood activists. Along with the activists, many such people who had nothing to do with the Statehood movement and were even against creation of Uttarakhand have now got themselves identified as Statehood activists. It would have been better if the efforts of the activists were aimed at pressurising the State Government for facilitating employment, electricity, drinking water, roads, medical facilities, education and other facilities for the people of Uttarakhand. Those who participated in the Statehood movement are now ensnared by greed for job and pension as intended by successive State Governments.
Prominent Statehood activist, Indramani Badoni and those who lost their lives in the Statehood movement had dreamed of employment generation and development in Uttarakhand and not pensions for activists.
Badoni used to think about the integrated development of entire Uttarakhand but those professing to be his followers are staking the future of the State by persistently agitating for pensions and privileges instead of raising their voice against corruption and wastage of resources,” he said.
Negi added that many organisations have been formed to raise the demands of Statehood activists as if Uttarakhand was formed to provide privileges for those who participated in the Statehood movement. Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh States were also formed along with Uttarakhand but in those two States, the government does not provide any pension to Statehood activists, which makes this demand all the more invalid and detrimental to development of the State.
In interests of the State, all activists should return their pension and other privileges to the government and set an example so that the State Government can be pressurised to do away with unnecessary expenses.