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The case for Gairsain

IN March this year Trivendra Singh Rawat, the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, announced that Gairsain will be made the summer capital of the state. The Governor of Uttarakhand Baby Rani Maurya subsequently gave her assent to the notification to this effect. People however are sceptical about it and see it as the poll gimmick of the BJP since assembly elections are due in 2022. They also question the wisdom of having two assembly complexes one in Gairsain and the other in Dehradun where yet another building is being constructed for the same purpose incurring unwarranted expenditure from the public exchequer.

The state of Uttarakhand has been in existence since November 2000 after a prolonged movement when it was felt that Uttar Pradesh was not responsive to accommodating the interests of the people who were predominantly from the hills. Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, which spearheaded the movement for the separate hill state had a clear agenda to make Gairsain the state capital. At an elevation of 5410 feet with its area spanning around 7.3 square kilometres, Gairsain is nestled in a picturesque valley in Chamoli district in Garhwal next to the Dudhatoli range of hills, located at the border of Garhwal and Kumaun, and is nearly 250 km, or eight-hour drive from Dehradun, the present ‘interim’ capital of Uttarakhand. It is not very far from Badrinath and the Valley of Flowers. Average distance to the district headquarters from Gairsain is about 180 km.

When the state of Uttarakhand was formed, it was hoped that it would set up a model in governance. Indeed, the very rationale for creation of the new entity was that it would meet the regional aspirations of its people in a much more effective manner than was the case when it was part of the larger, rather unwieldy, state of Uttar Pradesh. Alas, the promise has remained unfulfilled thanks to our political leadership and bureaucracy (that successively took over the reins of power) intent upon replicating the ills of the former regime and compounding the problems the people face today. For the people in the hills Dehradun, the present capital of Uttarakhand, is as distant as was Lucknow, not just in a spatial sense but also in terms of emotional estrangement.

The issue of the capital is bound up not only with a particular place but also has a great symbolic significance. Its central location would have been a gesture that our rulers and planners do care for the common people who have been living, perforce, on the fringes, and have remained isolated from the centre of power; neglected and almost forgotten. Unfortunately, every time there is talk of Gairsain as the proposed site for the permanent capital of Uttarakhand, our top leaders and bureaucrats turn jittery and start asking, where are the proper air, rail and road links to the place? As if these requirements are indispensable only to a certain class and do not concern the lesser mortals. One even fails to understand the logic of this argument in this age of high technology, when several alternative modes of communication, internet, fax, videoconferencing and so on, are readily available and much of the business can be transacted even without leaving one’s seat. It is no secret that more often than not the purpose of air travel for our leaders and other higher-ups is not any pressing official work, but personal aggrandizement, as for instance when someone’s political survival is at stake and he/she has to make an air dash to pay obeisance to the ‘high command,’ or go on a junket for pleasure and profit, rather than attend to matters relating to the state’s development. If, indeed, some serious official business were to be undertaken urgently, the helicopter service is always there. So why bemoan absence of an air link? Gairsain is connected with all other places by road, and if these roads are not good enough then it is all the more reason to shift the capital there so that our rulers may get the first hand experience of how the common man goes through the daily ordeal of travel bumping along in rickety, rattling buses. Then, perhaps, they might do something to improve the conditions of the roads, and take care of other infrastructure. So that development of the region could follow by default, if not by design.

This is not to argue against the development of Dehradun and other big cities in Uttarakhand. Dehradun has pride of place in the state. It is fast growing as a metropolitan city and needs matching infrastructure to cater to its burgeoning population. But there is hardly any need to spend crores of rupees to spruce it up in the name of interim capital. Residents of Dehradun are sceptical about the decision to make it a ‘smart city’ fearing large scale ecological degradation. Dehra which was once called a city of ‘green hedges and grey heads’ is now the residents’ nightmare. Since at present it is the seat of power, and has been pampered with all sorts of amenities, it has become a new focal point for the people from all other places, adding to the problem of migration of the rural populace to cities, a trend that should have been checked with the creation of the new state, but the process has only accelerated. The present BJP Government set up a Commission on Migration to assess the seriousness of the situation. The report which has now been made public reveals disturbing trends. Over 700 villages in Uttarakhand have been deserted; more than 3.83 lakh people have left their villages in the last 10 years with 50 per cent of them going out in search of livelihood and the rest due to poor education and health facilities. Since the 2011 census, 734 villages in Uttarakhand have become totally depopulated out of which 14 are within an aerial distance of 5 km from the borders. Thousands of village folks, young and old, who were forced to migrate to the plains to find employment and who have suddenly found themselves without any work due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis have now returned to their villages not out of volition but under the force of circumstance. What would be their future now?

One doesn’t have to read the ponderous reports of these commissions to arrive at a simple prognosis about the reasons for the out migration from the hills – there is utter lack of basic facilities of health, education and livelihood means in the rural parts. The conditions have only worsened as the Himalayan landscape that nurtures the hills of Uttarakhand and which is a rich reservoir of immense biodiversity and ecological sustainability have been systematically destroyed. The latest of such assaults is the Char Dham project that involves construction, already underway, of 900 kilometres of roads that will run through and connect the four holy shrines of Jamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath for quicker access from the plains. It is a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has been regularly reviewing it. The narrow roads which served well in the fragile mountains are recklessly being widened scarring the landscape beyond repair and the ravages are already showing. Taking cognizance of the recommendations of a high-powered expert committee appointed by it the Supreme Court has now directed the authorities to limit the widening of roads to five and a half metres (instead of twelve metres), but much of the damage has already been done. This follows the license given indiscriminately to forest and mining mafia for commercial exploitation of mountains, forests and river beds. Constructions of a string of hydroelectric power projects including the gigantic Tehri Dam, has gone unchecked. Moreover, there is unregulated tourist traffic to sensitive areas. In Mussoorie a project is underway which involves running a cable car between Mussoorie and Dehradun. Construction of its terminal station at Mussoorie required forcibly evicting 84 families of poor people settled there. There were protests by the local residents, but the administration, adamant to do their act, has pulled down their shelters and thrown them out in a time of raging pandemic and rains; so inhuman, to say the least. No environment impact studies were done. There is the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology in Dehradun, yet no expert opinion was sought from it before the contract was awarded to a mysterious French firm in a manner that was far from being transparent.

Every second person with some means, even if borrowed, wants to own a house and settle down in Dehradun or Nainital. As for our leaders and bureaucrats, their eyes are ever set on posh bungalows and lavish farmhouses. Their obscene levels of affluence is in sharp contrast with the lives of the poor forced to eke out meager existence in obscure hills, where the womenfolk even today have to trudge long distances for fuel and fodder. And for God’s sake, it is not their karma. Their plight is largely on account of the fact that a few are allowed to prosper at the expense of many. Posh colonies and high-tech enclaves cannot hide the stark reality of the poor unable to make both ends meet. On the one hand there are expensive private schools for the rich middle class in the cities, and on the other, majority of children in small towns and villages are forced to relapse into illiteracy. One cannot turn a blind eye to these disparities.

Our planners need to be closer, physically too, to the problems in order to plan and act for their redressal. During the British period the civil servants like Philip Mason (author of The Men Who Ruled India), who was once the collector of Garhwal and was posted in Pauri, could pitch their tents in the remote villages and listen to people’s woes. But the present class of civil servants (with few exceptions) can only have their camp offices in the cozy clime of Dehradun to be near their mentors and powers that be. They cannot so much as harbour the thought of rubbing shoulders with the hoi polloi.

Ironically, it is the masses, mainly from the hills, who had provided strength to the movement for the separate hill state and had made sacrifices in its cause that have been conveniently forgotten. Their voice should have set the ‘development’ agenda for the state; but it is just otherwise, since such people count for nothing in the reckoning of the masters. Sometimes they may be brought down to Dehradun for some Mahotsava or the other, to be exhibited as ethnic and exotic items to curious tourists and merry makers, and then packed off to their obscure villages. They are, and have been, mere pawns in the game of power politics.

Those who argue against Gairsain for the state capital have the familiar refrain, that this place is located in a seismically sensitive zone (even though the Geological Survey of India has given its clearance to it). Come to think of it, the entire north-west zone, even as far as Delhi and beyond, is quake prone. The disastrous Uttarkashi earthquake of 1991 that rocked the hills had shaken several building structures even as far as in Delhi. Did anyone then suggest that the national capital be relocated to some other, safer, place? And can’t the building structures be suitably designed to make them withstand occasional tremors? We have in Uttarakhand the expertise for this from the premier Indian Institute of Technology in Roorkee to guide the architects and builders. We also know that natural disasters will come when they must. If the common man living in the hills can brave them and bear the brunt, why can’t the rest of us? Are the poor alone dispensable? Are some lives more precious than others?

Gairsain, the mid-point of Garhwal and Kumaun, and easily accessible to both regions, is the ideal choice for the state capital. The successive surveys have shown that the public in general is overwhelmingly in favour of it. As far back as in 1994 when the movement for a separate hill state was gaining momentum the then Uttar Pradesh government set up a commission under the chairmanship of Rama Shankar Kaushik, Urban Development Minister of the state. The commission recommended creation of the new state of Uttarakhand and unequivocally proposed Gairsain as its capital. Subsequently the Uttar Pradesh State Reorganization Bill 2000 declared Uttarakhand as the 27th state of the union but it made no mention of the capital. This gave the bureaucracy a chance to entrench itself in Dehradun to enjoy all kinds of facilities. Kaushik Commission recommendations were conveniently shelved and forgotten. With fresh murmurs for settling the issue of the permanent capital the then BJP government set up yet another commission, Virendra Dixit Commission in 2001 which submitted its report in 2008 while the BJP was in power. The commission in its report stated that Gairsain was people’s choice for the permanent capital. For obvious reasons the recommendations have not gone down well with the political leaders. The successive governments have been sitting on the commission’s report and have taken no action nor made up its mind.

Happily, there is a consensus among the people of Garhwal and Kumaun for Gairsain, which is a great advantage. Metaphorically it signifies the blending of two cultures of Garhwal and Kumaun who are all emotionally attached to the place and would like to have the state capital here. One needs to rise above party affiliations and endorse the people’s choice. The BJP, which is in power both in the state and at the centre, has a historic opportunity to make it happen and declare Gairsain as the state capital, without further delay. Funds could be provided for the infrastructural development, work on which could start right away.

Unfortunately neither any of the political parties nor the bureaucracy is interested in respecting the popular sentiment. Most of them have investments in land and bungalows in Dehradun which they cannot give up for the backwaters. Periodically the charade of holding an assembly session in Gairsain is enacted which may last from two to five days. The Assembly building which has come up in Gairsain serves as a retreat for the legislators, and the place today looks more like a recreation centre. ‘This Assembly session is a joke on us. It’s all a drama in the name of the capital. They came for a picnic and returned,’ say the local residents. The residents allege that Gairsain has been virtually rejected by the political class in favour of the real estate opportunities available in the plains of Dehradun and Haridwar.

Gandhiji had once remarked: ‘I will give you a Talisman. Whenever you are in doubt; or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test: Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starved millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melting away.’

Shall our leaders, who are never tired of swearing by Gandhiji, heed his advice?

Satish C. Aikant