Uttarakhand Rajya has celebrated its 21st Foundation Day Anniversary yesterday with the ruling political dispensation and its chief minister T S Rawat including the governor Baby Rani Maurya participating in various official programmes propagating their government’s so called achievements and announcing many more schemes terming them as outstanding ” Uplabdhiyan” ( achievements during their tenure).
The state having witnessed nine chief ministers in merely twenty year rule with only a single CM late ND Tiwari having completed his five year tenure with Trivendra Singh Rawat likely to follow suit, Uttarakhand formed after forty six sacrifices and relentless struggle of thousands of youths, students, women n senior citizens including the ex Armymen etc is still finding itself way behind in terms of its overall development and fulfilling protracted peoples’ aspirations with its fiscal deficit economy rising from merely 4000 crores to nearly 45000 crores or more with unemployment, exodus to cities including emergence of thousands of ghost villages, deteriorating health sector and lowering educational standard becoming the order of the day.
Uttarakhand, famous as the land of abode of Gods with enchanting serene beauty and natural resources in abundance is today allegedly n unfortunately a haven for massive liquor trade, officially considered to be one of the major economic supporter and massive profit yeilder, including illegal mining on wide scale subsequently also patronising the widespread network of private hospitals minting tremendous economic profits from patients of critical illnesses in the absence of government hospitals with enough doctors, medical equipments, facilities and medicines etc.
The politicians at the helm and elected representatives including influensive power brokers, alleged corrupt bureaucrats, land sharks, contractors, liquor mafias n business houses etc have allegedly accumulated unaccounted wealth with the general electorates who vote them at the helm of power being exhibited the THENGA.
It is not shocking and surprising that despite making tall claims of various achievements during the last two decades of Uttarakhand gaining the separate existence there have been massive exodus of distressed villagers to the metropolises, interstate towns and cities making the interior villages hollow and vacant termed as ghost villages allowing wild monkeys, bears and maneaters encroach upon the human territories claiming several precious human lives.
The Uttarakhand hospitals are witnessing massive shortage of doctors, paramedic staff and equipments including ambulances and medicines, leading to fatalities of patients with even snake bites and deliveries by the pregnant women, on the way for want of adequate health centres, gynocological treatment and ambulances etc even after 73 years of independence and twenty years of getting separate Uttarakhand state.
Is it not true that our lawmakers and politicians leading the modest life style n some even in abject poverty twenty years before except the negligible few are today the multi millionares having migrated to lavish bungalows leading lavish lifestyles and urging those shifted to plains to return back to their villages, knowing very well that the interior Uttarakhand villages n even towns are totally bereft of appropriate medical and educational facilities where survival of the people is at stake.
Is is not true that lakhs of people from Uttarakhand villages, even more in numbers than pre separate state period, have migrated out of Uttarakhand or their villages in search of employment, education and health services n other avenues? Is this disturbing and anguishing trend not a slap on our political parties and politicians who’d ruled on us for the last twenty years giving false promises.
How long will the betrayed electorates of the hilly continue to elect alternative political governments of BJP n Congress knowing very well that their entire aspirations still remain unfulfilled even after twenty protracted years’ of their alternative governments ?
And finally is it not true that those at the helm of affairs are being allegedly held responsible for corruption during successive regimes of the state with their cases in honourable courts.
This is a moot question which remains to be answered ?
The ball is in the court of our revered readers to decide , what’s right n wrong in a constitutional democracy of free speech and expression.
Jai Bharat, Jai Uttarakhand
