The Uttarakhand government on Tuesday announced that it would give pension to those who had taken part in the agitation for statehood and who are aged over 60 year. The state will also enact a law to grant 10 per cent reservation to their kin in government jobs.
The decision was taken by the state Cabinet at a meeting here chaired by Chief Minister Harish Rawat, an official statement here said. The photographs of martyred statehood agitationists, who fought for a separate Uttarakhand, will be up for display at the Vidhan Bhawan this session beginning later this month, the release added.
Their villages will also be developed as 'ideal villages' and the educational institutes in the state will be named after them, it said. The Cabinet has made a provision of Rs 10 crore for the welfare fund for agitationists named Rajya Andolankari Kalyan Kosh, the release added. The committees to identify statehood agitationists, headed by district magistrates, were also decided to be dissolved, and replaced with new government-appointed panels which will look into deserving cases left out of the list, the release stated.
Welcoming the announcement, Dhirendra Pratap, president, Rajya Andolankari Kalyan Parishad (the welfare of those who fought for statehood of Uttarakhand) thanked Chief Minister Harish Rawat.
Pratap said that he had done a great service to agitationists by fulfilling their long-pending demands. The Cabinet also decided to reduce the security money taken from investors in higher education sector from Rs 10 crore to Rs 5 crore. Women who become mothers through surrogacy will also get maternity leave, the release said.
