Ahead of the Vidhan Sabha election 2017, the issue of making Gairsain the permanent capital of Uttarakhand has resurfaced yet again. This time, the issue has been raised under the banner of Gairsain Sangharsh Samiti with people of dissimilar political views uniting at a programme held at Karnprayag on Tuesday.
The locals in the mountainous regions state that both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress party have failed to establish the permanent State capital in the period of 16 years after creation of the State.
The public in general is of the view that crores of rupees and other resources have been expended in the name of permanent State capital since creation of Uttarakhand in 2000 but little concrete has been achieved towards facilitating the desired level of development in the mountainous region of this Himalayan State.
The construction of a Vidhan Sabha building and other buildings is being carried out by the State authorities but the State Government has not yet declared clearly where the permanent State capital will be established.
People supporting different political parties came together under the banner of Gairsain Sangharsh Samiti at Karnprayag in Chamoli district on Tuesday. Taking out a rally in support of the demand for establishing Gairsain as the permanent State capital, the gathering demanded that the Government clear the status and its stance on the issue of permanent State capital.
Reaching the Tehsil, speakers among the demonstrators lambasted successive State Governments alleging that the Gairsain issue had been used mainly for politicking due to which Uttarakhand does not have a permanent capital sixteen years after Statehood was granted. If Gairsain is not made the permanent capital of Uttarakhand, both the Congress and the BJP will face the repercussions of public disappointment in the Vidhan Sabha election slated for 2017.