Dehradun: The move by the BJP government in Uttarakhand to hold its upcoming budget session in Dehradun from February 18 has put Gairsain, its summer capital into the spotlight.
In 2012, BJP CM Vijay Bahuguna held a cabinet meeting in Gairsain and announced a state assembly building would be constructed there. In 2014, the Congress government under Harish Rawat started holding sessions in the assembly there.
In 2020, the BJP government announced Gairsain as the summer capital of Uttarakhand. A year later, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat declared the town as a new administrative division of the state, a third commissionerate after Kumaon and Garhwal.
Developed in an area of 47 acres, the Vidhan Sabha complex in Bhararisain stands at a height of 2,380 metres above sea level, making it a cold location for the entire year. When a session is convened, files, officers and staff from Vidhan Sabha and Secretariat in Dehradun make the 10-hour journey and return as soon as the proceedings end.
Conducting sessions in Gairsain has been costly. In response to an RTI query, the Uttarakhand government in 2017 revealed that Rs 1.95 crore was spent between 2014 and 2017. Of this, the Congress government spent Rs 96.2 lakh was spent between 2014 and 2016. However, the BJP government spent more in the two-day assembly session in 2017 than in the three years prior.
The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, now a relatively minor player, still demands that Gairsain be made the permanent capital.
Meanwhile, Congress this week announced that it would boycott at least one day of the upcoming session to protest the BJP’s decision to hold it in Dehradun. Senior Vice President of Uttarakhand Congress Dhirendra Pratap alleged that the BJP was taking revenge for its crushing defeat in the recent municipal elections in Gairsain by not convening the assembly session there. He said this would send a strong message to all 16,664 villages of the state that the sentiments of the hill region are being deeply disrespected.
Issue of Gairsain
Located 250 kilometres away from Dehradun, Gairsain has been the subject of political debate long before the state was formed.
According to the 2011 census, Gairsain tehsil, situated in the Chamoli district, has around 61,996 inhabitants and nestles in the foothills of the Dudhatoli mountain range. The region has an Assembly building in Bhararisain built in 2014.
The demand for a separate Uttarakhand state with its capital in Chandranagar or Gairsain was raised in 1992 by Kashi Singh Aery, an MLA from Didihat from Uttarakhand Kranti Dal. According to a research paper titled “Uttarakhand Movement: The Perspective of Political Parties and from the Eye of Media” by Dr Naveen Prakash Nautiyal, Aery issued a manifesto to this effect on January 15, 1992. The manifesto envisioned 23 districts and four commissionaires for the state.
In 1992, the Gairsain Session was held from 24 to 25 July, and Aery laid the foundation stone of Chandra Nagar.
Government records show that the demand for Gairsain to be the capital gained momentum following a recommendation by the Ramashanker Kaushik committee in 1994. The committee instituted by the UP government, suggested that Gairsain would be the most suitable place for the capital of the proposed state. However, when the state was formed in November 2000, Dehradun became the “temporary” capital, since Gairsain lacked the infrastructure, and rail and air connectivity.
The Uttarakhand Mahila Manch, which played a major role in the state formation movement, had also raised the demand for Gairsain to be the capital. Chandrakala, a lawyer based in Dehradun and a member of the organisation, told The Indian Express that the demand arose from the fact that a hill state needs a hill capital.
“When the state protest was on, the logic for capital was to make it accessible for all,” she said. “Gairsain was in the middle of the state, between Kumaon and Garhwal. If someone in Pithoragarh has to reach Dehradun now, they need two days. If the capital was in Gairsain, migration could have been stopped. Moreover, if leaders stay there, they will understand the issues of the hills. Now, the policies are being planned with a focus on Dehradun, Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital. Education, health, and transportation will also be assured for those living in the hill districts. The idea was to avert this.”
The Uttarakhand government had established the Dixit Commission in 2001 to look for a permanent capital. In its final report in 2009, the commission concluded that “the interim capital, Dehradun, is a more suitable place as the permanent capital owing to the factors like its distance from the national capital, centralised population, and safety from natural calamities”.
Chandrakala added that both the mainstream political parties – the Congress and the BJP – have milked the issue. “If the Dixit Commission report states Dehradun is more suitable as capital, why is the government still toying with the issue? All the elites want to stay in Nainital and Dehradun,” she said.
