Stir threatened on demand for Gairsand as Uttarakhand capital

New Delhi, Sept 13 (UNI) People of Uttarakhand are becoming restive over the delay in choosing a permanent capital of their state and one of the founders of the Uttarakhand Samyukta Sangharsha Samiti, which had spearheaded the struggle for a separate hill state, today threatened to revive the agitation.

''This time our agitation will be aimed at making Gairsand the permanent capital of Uttarakhand,'' one of the founder leaders of the old Uttarakhand Samyukta Sangharsh Samiti Dhirendra Pratap and a former minister in the state told UNI.

He demanded that the Report of the Dixit Commission which had been appointed to suggest a permanent seat of the state Government should be made public.

The Commission, set up about eight years ago, had submitted its report about a month ago, and the Chief Minister had handed it over to the Chief Secretary to have a look at it, but so far no reaction had come from the Government, he said.

Mr Pratap said that if the Dixit Commission recommended any other place like current capital Dehra Dun, Rishikesh or Ramnagar, it would not be acceptable to them.

He said he had called a conference on the issue 'Gairsand Rajdhani Bano Sammelan' at Ramnagar in Nainital on September 15 and invited all political parties and non-political organisations to join in to discuss the issue.

The Uttarakhand leader said that if the issue was not solved early and the capital remained Dehra Dun, it would deepen the unrest in the people of the hill state.

He accused the bureaucracy and a section of political leaders of having a vested interest in making Dehra Dun the permanent capital.

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