Uttaranchal govt earns statehood activists’ displeasure

It was Dhirendra Pratap, vice-chairman of the Rajya Nirman Andolankari Kalyan Parishad, a state-level committee formed to look after the welfare of the statehood activists, who advised Chief Minister ND Tiwari to reward villagers of Muzzafarnagar district for helping the statehood activists.

Tiwari announced that those who helped agitators would be given cash rewards. This became a problem as there was a mad scramble among villagers to add their names in the list. Meanwhile, the statehood activists in Uttaranchal were unhappy at the apathy of the state government towards them. The Uttaranchal government had to ask the Muzzaffarnagar district police to verify the antecedents of all those in the list.

Another announcement added fuel to the fire. According to statehood activists, the chief minister had promised jobs to all those who had suffered or had gone to jail during the agitation. But recently, the chief minister said such people would be given the benefit of job reservation. This has infuriated the activists.

Usha Negi, a vice-chairperson of the Parishad has threatened to resign on the issue.

A general strike was called today in Haldwani and there was a self immolation attempt by an activist against withdrawal of cases registered against them during the agitation. The state government had withdrawn all the cases against the statehood activists. “A few cases pertain to the reservation agitation and not with statehood agitation. But we are withdrawing these cases as well,” Uttaranchal PWD and Information Minister Indira Hariydesh, who represents Haldwani said.