Why was this State created?

By S Paul

Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh for the specific reason that its progress was neglected by Uttar Pradesh, even from before independence when UP was called the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. Only the British did some exploration of its natural ambience akin to their homeland and established the popular hill towns of Mussoorie and Nainital. But this region consisting of Garhwalis and Kumaonis did not benefit even after Bharat’s independence because the people of the plains dominated UP’s governance. Despite this region having given them three Chief Ministers – GB Pant, HN Bahuguna and ND Tiwari – it was left unaffected by the industrial and economic progress of the rest of UP. Feeling this negligent attitude, the people of this region felt that they ought to seek self-governance and a movement spearheaded by a group called Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) started their demand for separation from UP by fasting, taking out protest marches and even seeking to approach the central government for granting this legitimate demand of the hardworking soldierly citizens of this region. The then ruling government of UP resorted to suppressing this peaceful agitation by firing upon the agitators and assaulting them on their way to the Jantar-Mantar at Delhi. The women agitators among them were even molested and shamed. The agitators were not allowed to proceed beyond Muzaffarnagar. It remains the political generosity of the people of this region that despite such humiliation and atrocities they permitted the same political party to contest their next general elections in this state also.

However, having achieved the status of a fully- fledged state of Bharat, the sons of the soil political leaders could not quite conceive the typicality of governing this naturally endowed part of our nation. They felt that copying other states and cities of the country is the only way to progress. However, some environmental awareness made them realise that industrialisation and other kinds of polluting ventures are not for this region. It is tourism in many forms that would get us the revenue. But to achieve that they opened the gates of this heaven to all and sundry with ‘gold’ to come in and start claiming its land as their own and crowding it with the one species of the world which scars the Earth wherever they start their ingress. The land mafia moved in and with the connivance of the gold seeking administration and government, started choking us – the very reason that this state was separated from the domination of the plains. Without the forethought and preplanning our leaders and administrators have blundered into attracting the riff along with the raff. Riff being investors and raff being the job seekers. There is now resurgence of the realisation, especially spearheaded by the present government at the centre, that our culture is the mother of all the wisdom acquired by our ancestors’ spiritual quests through their meditation. We, as the progeny of those wise men, are endowed with the divine Sanatana Dharma which is not a religion but a way of life. This way of life has made our race resilient to all kinds of humiliation, torture and loot that we humans inflict upon each other. This has to be the reason that, when all known ‘once upon a time’ ancient cultures have been destroyed, ours still thrives. This is also the reason that this region of Bharat enjoys a special place in the heart of our ruling central government because we have the most sacred relics of our dharma situated in this region. But we Uttarakhandis have not able to use this favour wisely. If not, then someone please explain the following:

1. Why was the poetical and musical sounding name ‘Uttaranchal’ of the state (Bharat Ma ka Aanchal) as suggested by the then BJP government changed to ‘Uttarakhand’, a harsh divisive sounding (separated state of Uttar Bharat) name?
2. By whom and why was the future capital of this state chosen to be Gairsain, a remote hill town not easily accessible even by road? What was the hurry in constructing a huge more than Rs 300 crores worth of building as ‘Vidhan Sabha’ even before creating the auxiliary services as Secretariat, Hostels, ease of communication both from Kumaon and Garhwal side by road and air, a shopping complex, power house, telecommunication, medical facilities, schools and colleges for the permanent staff, sewerage and garbage disposal, etc.?
3. Why was Dehradun chosen to carry the burden of a ‘temporary’ capital when it could have easily been done Haridwar or Rudrapur in the plains and more easily accessible to all the citizens of the state and also well connected to the rest of the nation?
4. Why in the name of a ‘temporary capital’ was a Vidhan Sabha building constructed/drastically modified on encroached land of a residential colony created by funds from the central government specifically for defence personnel? And why was a colony built for the secretarial staff and separately for the bureaucrats at Dehradun when it was to be just a temporary capital?
5. Why is so much being planned and spent for constructing various facilities like satellite cities and ring roads since Dehradun is merely a temporary capital?
6. It appears from the way Dehradun valley is being urbanised as if the aim is to make it into a metro city. Do the planners think that the valley is capable of sustaining that burden without losing its naturalness?
7. Any city in the terai region of this state could have been considered for being the state capital. Haridwar is most suited for the purpose as it enjoys road, rail and air connections the same as Dehradun. It is also capable of ample expansion without losing its natural greatness of being a ‘teerth’ and it does not lack water and has means of garbage and sewage disposal under the scheme of ‘Namani Ganga’. All our hill stations and places of pilgrim tourism can easily be approached from it.
8. Why was acquisition of property in the Doon Valley and elsewhere in the state not strictly controlled right from the birth of this state? Do our sons of the soil politicians think that the citizens from other parts of the nation will not flock to this nature’s gift and start exploiting it and slowly rule it? Learn from the state of Himachal Pradesh when it was segregated from Punjab.
9. Why do we hear that Dehradun will be a winter and Gairsain a summer capital? Does UK, an abbreviation being officially used for Uttarakhand make it like UK (United Kingdom) so that we start behaving like ‘angrez’ who ruled over us and had New Delhi as winter and Shimla as summer capital? Even the pampered erstwhile state of J&K has given up that practice as it costs crores in shifting every year to their exchequer.
10. Why is the central government not taking cognizance of this foolhardy planning of our state and going on doling out largesse in the name of preserving our culture but losing irreversibly on its naturalness?

I would urge our planners to not to give up our Greens for Gold (refer to my write up in GP dated 27 December 2025, page 5). And please leave our Dehradun and establish the capital of the state elsewhere judiciously. Dehradun has been the face of the state. If this is scarred, then the entire state may suffer due to the displeasure of our Devtas in our Devbhumi. If still indecisive, then perhaps we may benefit more by the wisdom and expertise of the central government by making our state temporarily a union territory? But of course, self-governance has to be the best.