Uttarakhand: Padyatra to press for one state, one capital

A group of young locals on Friday set out barefoot on a march to Gairsain, demanding ''one state, one capital''.

Uttarakhand currently has two capitals, Dehradun and Gairsain. Gairsain was made the summer capital of the state in March last year.

Led by Praveen Singh Kashi, a strong votary of Gairsain being made the permanent capital of Uttarakhand, the group embarked on the journey after offering prayers at the Gopinath temple here.

As they started the march they also held a public meeting here to spell out the objective of the padyatra.

''There can be no justification for a small state like Uttarakhand having two capitals, which is a British era concept and a sheer waste of taxpayers' money,'' Kashi said.

The denial of permanent capital status to Gairsain is the result of politics against the hills, he said.

Unless the Uttarakhand government sits in Gairsain, it will not be able to formulate an agricultural and industrial policy for the hills, the absence of which has been the root cause of migration, he said.

''Ever since Uttarakhand was created 35 lakh people have migrated from its hills and 4,000 villages have become ghost villages,'' he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)