A heavy burden for this new born
The state of Uttarakhand will now have to bear the brunt of corrupt activities in the form of bank loans, and recruitment of senior bureaucrats who aimed at developing the state on the Lucknow model.
POOR STATE born from the womb of a financially wrecked mother, Uttaranchal will have to carry the burden of some of the hefty liabilities of its mother state. Loans taken by the UP government from the World Bank under the Joint Forest Management are being passed on to Uttaranchal s most of the forests of UP happen to be in this hill region. The new state will not be able to bear the burden of these heavy loans .and is sure to crumble under the weight. To make Uttaranchal viable, ground-level development will have to be stepped up. This requires a very different and innovative type of developmental model. Sadly, the UP government seems to be treating the new state as a colony, by sending an army of lAS, IPS and IFS officers to manage its affairs. In a state which lacks even basic development parameters like roads and communication network, the need of the hour is to focus on these vital developmental issues. Corrupt, ignorant and arrogant bureaucrats from Lucknow, with their fixed ideas of development, are coming in, trying to build Uttaranchal on the Lucknow model. That model is not required here.
Uttaranchal is perhaps one of the richest state of the country in terms of biodiversity with 60-70 per cent of its area under forests, and nearly 7O per cent of its population dependent on it. The mad rush of forest officials to this new state is understandable, but the conflict between local people trying to get their traditional rights over the forests and the bureaucracy with their ‘known’ interests, could well become a major political, economic and social issue. Uttaranchal has an added disadvantage: if the criteria of loans and grants are population, it will always be the loser.
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