Gairsain and Pancheshwar discussed at length at Press Club of India, New Delhi

There are primarily two main issues that are prominently being highlighted in various parts of Uttarakhand and even in Delhi, the national capital and the pivotal issues are: one connected to Gairsain to be declared as the permanent capital of the 17 and a half year old state and another relaing to the contruction of a 315 meter high altitude dam over the Mahakali and Saryu rivers of Nepal and Uttarakhand likely to fully submerge about 64 villages of three districts of Uttarakhand and displace about thirty thousand families.

In order to provide fillip to the ongoing movements in Uttarakhand on these pivotal twin issues and mobilise the right thinking progressive people outrighty standing for Hairsain and against 480 billion worth of Pancheshwar dam, the intellectuals and social activists of Delhi and NCR collectively gathered at Press Club of India yesterday irrespective of the party, political and ideological affiliations and discussed at length the afore mentioned burning issues finally reaching to the conclusion that they will in the form of a unified conglomeration hold a protest demonstration from the Raisina Road, Press Club of India premises and present a memorandum to the prime minister of India on the burning issue of Gairsain to be made the capital of Ittarakhand undisputably and without any further delay. In a seminar cum meeting held at Press Club of India on 3rd of February the eminent literateur, poet and writer Manglesh Dabral hailed the ongoing movement for Gairsain capital and appealed to the progressive, secular and right thinking peoole of the country and Uttarakhand in particular to stand united and relentlessly struggle to reach to the final conclusion of the Gairsain demand as Gairsain according to him is not just an emotional and passionate demand but also significant from the point of view of its correct technical feasibility by being equidistance from both the Garhwal and Kumaon regions but also the birth place of the outstanding revolutionery of the country late Chandra Singh Garhwali.

Expressing his serious concern over the sorry state of affairs in the 18 year old Uttarakhand state Manglesh Dabral said that its most unfortunate that all the chief ministers of Uttarakhand right from Nityanand Swamy till date are functioning under the influence and directions of the bureaucracy which is utmostly against the demand of Gairsain to be ade the capital of Uttarakhand as their unholy nexus with land, illegal mining, builders and big dam mafias is very much protected and flourishing in Dehradun and they would never want to go inside the hills of Gairsain which is the symbol and embodiment of the decentralised over all development of the state. Speaking on the incessant plight of the inhabitants of Uttarakhand from interior villages to the plains Manglesh Dabral said today hundreds of villages have become empty and the spate of influx to the city is myriad which needs to be stopped at all costs and declaration of Gairsain as the permanent capital of Uttarakhand is the sole and only necessity of the present time.

He equated the the Mahakali and Saryu rivers as the pious Ganges and said that its highly deplorable that the present government is building a massive dam on it thus displacing thousands of the local inhabitants and spoiling the environment by binding the rivers and deforesting the heavy jungles considered to be our lungs and oxygen givers. Manglesh Dabral asked the agitationists to beaware of the anarchist and communal elements and said that the reactionery, divisive and communal forces including anti dalits should be kept away from such movements. He expressed his unhappiness and displeasure that intellectials, historians and movement activists like Dr. Shekhar Pathak and Dr. Shamsher Singh Bisht are not contributing to these pivotal movements of the hills.

The meeting was convened by All India Uttarakhand Mahasabha and presided by its national president Vinod Nautiyal whereas nicely conducted by the president of Uttarakhand Journalists Forum Sunil Negi. Prominent amongst those who spoke on the occasion were literateur and writer Dr. Hari Suman Bisht, Puran Dangwal, Colonel Dimri, sr journalists Gyanendra Pandey, Umakant Lakhera, Charu Tiwari, Avtar Negi, Suresh Nautiyal, Vyomesh Jugran, Sunil Negi, Vinod Nautiyal Kusum Kandwal Bhatt, Hansa Amola, Anita Nautiyal, Sushma Jugran, journalist, Subhash Traan, Dr. Surya Prakash Semwal, Pratap Shahi, Udai Mamgain Rathi, Chandan Gusain, Bhagat Singh Negi, Shiv Prasad Gaur, Umesh Pant and others.
SUNIL NEGI, PRESIDENT, UTTARAKHAND JOURNALISTS FORUM