Statehood activists threaten self-immolation, two detained

Scared of Statehood activists going for self-immolation when the Assembly Session was on, police acted swiftly and arrested two of them. 

Accusing the State Government of sitting over their pending demands, dozens of Uttarakhand State Nirmaan Chinhit Andolankari Manch activists protested at Martyrs’ Memorial in Dehradun Collectorate on Thursday. 

Two arrested Statehood activists were Shakuntala Sharma and Suryakant. Pitching in to douse fires, Chief Minister Harish Rawat is said to have assured the agitators that the Government would have the pertinent Bill passed in course of the ongoing Assembly session. The Statehood activists said they would wait for the Bill proposing 10 per cent horizontal reservation in the Government and pension for the identified Statehood activists to be passed in the Vidhan Sabha on Thursday. 

In case nothing happens they would intensify stir and even go to the extent of self-immolation, they warned. Kotwali police station in-charge inspector SS Bisht confirmed that two protesters who had threatened to self- immolate were arrested and they will be presented in the court of city magistrate. The stir was on when the story was filed.

The administration has deployed adequate police forces to maintain peace there. Sources said that the Government had sought time from the protesters till Thursday evening to address their grievances. Vipin Singh Chauhan, one of the activists, said that a delegation of the association had met Chief Minister Harish Rawat and apprised him in details of their long-pending demands and unaddressed grievances. 

According to him, Chief Minister had assured them to address their grievances during Vidhan Sabha session. Chauhan said that the association will intensify their stir if the government does not act on the CM’s assurances.