By OUR STAFF REPORTER
DEHRADUN, 29 Jul: A special meeting of the ‘Gairsain Rajdhani Nirman Abhiyan’ was held, recently, in which delegates from all districts participated. The Gairsain Rajdhani Nirman Abhiyan has completed 316 days in a tent at the dharna site, Parade Ground, despite the inclement weather. The demand is that Gairsain be declared the permanent capital of Uttarakhand, as was proposed at the time of the state’s formation. The meeting was initiated by LP Thapliyal, the chief organiser of the Abhiyan. He also read out a charter to be submitted to the authorities. Manoj Dhyani explained the purpose of the meeting and what steps were being taken to ensure the declaration of Gairsain as the permanent capital of Uttarakhand. A number of delegates who came from different parts of the State expressed their views. Brig KG Behl (Retd), President, AICC & Sanyukta Nagrik Sangathan, stated that Dehradun was declared the temporary capital of Uttarakhand since it had all necessary requirements needed around which an infrastructure could be built. But the haphazard way in which the offices and other requirements were allowed to come up defeated the very purpose. It had become difficult even to cross a road by the pedestrians, what to say of movement of vehicles, which caused traffic jams. Moreover, the State Government has recently allowed the height of multi- storied buildings to go up to 30 metres and reduced the width of the roads along them to 30 feet instead of 40 feet as given in the laws, especially when this area falls in the seismic zone IV and V prone to earthquakes. In addition, the authorities have allowed more number of houses to be constructed from 200 to 300 within a limited area. It had now become necessary to have a well planned capital keeping in mind all the needs. It was therefore suggested that Gairsain be declared as the permanent capital of Uttarakhand. It would be planned and developed so that within a limited period a new capital may come up providing all the necessary infrastructure and facilities. Proper planning had to be done so that all works earmarked for this purpose were completed simultaneously within a laid down time frame. It should become a smart capital in the same vein as other cities. Others from various organisations who spoke on the occasion included Manoj Dhyani, Lalit Joshi, Kishore Upadhyay, Kamal Kant, Purshottam Bhatt, Sushil Dhyani, Jagmohan Singh Negi, Pradeep Kukreti, Vijyendra Singh Bisht, Prem Gusain, Viresh Chaudhary and Manmohan Lakherha.
