CM's claim on special status questioned

By Our Staff Correspondent

DEHRA DUN, FEB. 24. The Nityanand Swami government, which had come to be known as the one that announces some big achievement or the other every day, suffered a major setback as the Union Minister for Planning and Programme Implementation, Mr. Arun Shourie, told the Rajya Sabha two days back that there was no proposal to grant a special package to Uttaranchal under the consideration of the Central Government.

The Chief Minister had been repeatedly making public announcements that the Centre had agreed to give a special economic package to the hill State. ``This claim has been proved false after the Union Minister's statement and it is our strong feeling that Mr. Nityanand Swami has lost control of the situation and is making statements that might boost his image,'' the Congress chief spokesman, Mr. Surendra Kumar, said today.

Mr. Surendra Kumar also questioned the veracity behind Mr. Swami's recent claim that the Prime Minister and Home Minister had agreed in principle to annex parts of the sugarcane command areas in Bareilly, Pilibhit, Rampur and Bijnore districts and certain areas of Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh to make the sugar mills of Uttaranchal sustainable and bring the whole of Corbett National Park within the hill State.

The Congress has alleged that the interests of Uttaranchal are not safe in the hands of the BJP as they are not serious about the hydel projects or financial interests of the State. They have failed to get the Rs. 1006 crores in the Uttar Pradesh treasury allocated by the 11th Finance Commission for Uttaranchal. Mr. Kumar also wanted to known why the BJP government has failed to provide administrative infrastructures such as Finance Commission, Planning Commission, several tribunals, Hydro Power Corporation, Road Transport Corporation.

Several political and social activists also questioned Mr. Swami's recent announcement that he had got ``orders'' from the very top to rehabilitate the nomadic tribe Van Gujjars in a colony in Pathri in Hardwar district. ``Most of the Chief Minister's Cabinet colleagues and MLAs continue to stay in the dingy Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Hotel. Instead of thinking of providing the legislators and Ministers some decent accommodation, the Chief Minister seems to be more concerned about uprooting the Van Gujjars from their traditional habitat,'' Mr. Anil Dhasmana and Mr. Praveen Sharma said.

All the international conventions signed by India, including the Rio Declaration and the ILO convention and the National Forest Policy of 1988, specify that the interests of tribals living in and around the forests should be fully protected. These conventions and the National Forest Policy specify that the tribals living in and around the forests should be associated closely in the protection, regeneration and development of forests and not be evicted as announced by Mr. Swami, say several officials at the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education.

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Section  : Other States
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