Uttrakhand has eight MPs but Chattisgarh and Maharashtra MPs raise issues of ecological disasters and all weather roads , sounds ironical
In the past when Uttarakhand had political stalwarts in parliament like Govind Ballabh Pant, K.C Pant, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, Narain Dutt Tiwari, Jaganath Sharma, Brahm Dutt, even Harish Rawat they were known because of their oratorical skills always vocal in parliament raising issues of significance of the then hill areas , now Uttarakhand despite the fact that there weren’t any credible source of dissemination of information about their performance in parliament except print media and doordarshan with limited space and time of telecast. Still those leaders were well known because of their eminent vociferousness in parliamentary debates raising burning issues of the eight hill districts of Uttarakhand. I fondly remember when Bahuguna the then opposition leaders during the tenure of them PM Indira Gandhi before 1984 had placed a non confidence motion against her and spoke on various issues of national and global significance in parliament for hours together lauded and covered by the national n international press. However, these days though Uttarakhand has five lok sabha MPs and three in RajyaSabha from Uttarakhand the issues related to ecological disasters and loss to human lives due to flash floods and massive landslides in the Himalayan state are being raised by the MPs of other states. According to the latest news reports pouring in, the member of parliaments are elected by the electorates to Lok Sabha with the sole aim to highlight their burning issues so as to resolve them and bring to the notice of the government. Today , unfortunately, Uttarakhand is in the grip of ecological calamities, landslides, flash floods, cloud burst incidents and roads and villages being wiped out with several deaths but unfortunately these grievances are being raised by the member of parliaments of other states rather than the elected MPs from here.
Whether they are the issues of Joshimath subsidence or cloud burst incidents, villages being wiped out in Tehri Garhwal or roads washed away by massive landslides from Son Prayag to Kedarnath at nine points the people were expecting that their MPs will bring the disaster related issues to the knowledge of higher authorities by raising them in parliament during the monsoon session.
However, what is important to note here that the MPs of Maharashtra and Chattisgarh spoke on the Uttarakhand issues of ecological disasters than Uttarakhand’s own members of parliament.
According to a news report, the Rajya Sabha MP from Chattisgarh Ranjita Rajan drew the attention of the union minister of Roadways and Transport towards the all weather roads projects of Chardham in Uttarakhand pointing out towards the uncontrollable environmentally unfriendly development including the demerits of this ongoing project.
Answering to the credible queries of the Chattisgarh Rajya Sabha vociferous MP Ranjita Rajan the national highways minister Nitin Gadkari referring to the all weather roads projects and the objections raised by the MP said that this project is straight away associated with the national security issues. The road has to be taken up to the China borders said the minister. The work of this project now left is up to 150 kilometres and is at the last stage of completion.
On the other hand the Maharashtra MP Imran Pratap Garhi has raised the question on the Joshimath subsidence issue and subsequent answers given the the union minister of cracks developed in about one thousand houses there and the concrete action taken by the state government etc if any.
The moot point is Uttarakhand has three Rajya Sabha MPs and five Lok Sabha MPs but instead of them the MPs of other states are asking questions on issues of ecological concerns of Uttarakhand.
This definitely sends a wrong message. The electorates of the state have elected the Bhartiya Janata Party MPs for the third time obviously reposing complete faith on them which morally demand that they should raise their issues in parliament and play the catalytic roles of the ruling party as well as the opposition party MPs on burning issues related to unemployment, ecological disasters , development and issues related to women empowerment, education, health sector and on increasing accidents and maneater invasion on human beings brutally killing children, women and sr.citizens in the state.
