MeraPahad Community Of Uttarakhand Lovers

Founded 1979
Headquarters 10, Court Road, Dehradun - 248001

Platform & Position Papers
Following the 2007 state assembly election, the party decided to extend issue-based support to the BJP minority government in order to advance the platform of the party and ensure stability in governance. A nine-point list of demands was put forward, including resolving the capital city issue and putting a stop to further assembly seat delimitation. These points were accepted by the BJP on principle, although Gairsain has yet to be resolved.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In our 28th Convention held in October 2006 in Pithoragarh, we took up the issues of a permanent state capital, delimitation, employment, return of government employees who have opted for UP, and the crisis over rising prices. For the 2007 Assembly Elections, we determined that the interests of students, workers and traders will be placed front and centre. We also concluded to do all we can to build alliances with friendly parties to save Uttarakhand by ousting the Congress and denying the BJP from coming to power in the state.

Our election platform included, but was not exclusive to the following points:

We will return rights to the people over water, forests and land.
We will oppose the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission.
We will put a check on corruption and probe all scams.
We will support universally accessible education for poor and rich alike.
We will formulate effective policies on horticulture and agriculture.
We oppose giving land in the Terai region to industrialists at cheap prices.
We want to place emphasis on setting up industry in every district of the state.
We are against residents of the state having to provide domicile certificates, rather we believe in acknowledging those who have had property here for the last 30 years as domiciles of the state.
We want reservations for the poor among upper castes.
We favour reserving 85 percent of jobs in industry in the state for the local people.
We want to connect every part of the state down to the tehsil and block level with good roads to promote tourism. Rail and ropeway connections will also be promoted.
We will establish 23 districts in the state for more effective governance closer to the people.
We are also pained by the neglect of those who were part of the Uttarakhand movement. We promise to honour and appreciate this section of society.
In addition, the UKD has led the high profile struggle to defend folk singer and hero Narender Singh Negi from censorship, while working on several fronts to defend the interests of the people of Uttarakhand.

http://www.ukd.in/

Hills aren't alive to 'Uttarakhand State'
June 07 1997

Gopeshwar : The hill people are exhausted. With the regular rallies and dharnas in favour of a separate Uttarakhand state having got them nowhere, the people's disillusionment is evident more than ever before. "Even if we get a separate Hill State, our fate will remain the same. We are not going to get government jobs and are destined to earn our livelihood selling milk, washing pots or driving taxis," says Pushkar Singh Bisht.

Bisht, a taxi driver, echoes the general feeling of the hill people. And today, it is because of this feeling of hopelessness that regional leaders are finding it difficult to revive the Uttarakhand movement.

"Till a year ago when we would take out processions to mark the killings at Ramur Tiraha, we had a tough time controlling the crowd," recalls local activist Bhagwati Prasad Bhatt. "Now we are having a tough time collecting a few individuals for the torch processions," he says.

Yet rabble-rousers are not discouraged by the people's cold response. They are desperately trying to turn the public opinion in favour of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) threatened to launch a movement if the Centre failed to implement last year's announcement according statehood to Uttarakhand by August 15.

The UKD's threat to the Centre is being perceived here as the party's last-ditch attempt to some how rise from the shadows of the drubbing it received during the last Assembly elections.

"The UKD may not be able to retrieve its lost ground," says an analyst," because of its failure to revive the Uttarakhand Movement." People, tired of dharnas and processions, are now beginning to feel that UT status for Uttarakhand would be far more advantageous than statehood. The turn around is surprising considering the innumerable sacrifices the hill people have made since 1994 to achieve their goal of a separate Hill State.

According to analysts, the UT status suits the hill folk for two reasons. First, they seem to have realised that the United Front (UF) Government, being in a minority is finding it difficult to implement its promise of according statehood to the nine hill districts of Uttarakhand. Another reason is the growing realisation that regional leader's may not be able to run the affairs of the State properly.

(The Indian Express)

ek puranee khabar