Main opposition BJP today demonstrated outside the Uttarakhand Secretariat here in protest against the deteriorating law and order scenario in the state and the inordinate delay in the appointment of Pantnagar University Vice-Chancellor.
During the demonstration placards were shown and slogans shouted against the state government, following which the BJP leaders handed a letter to Chief Minister Harish Rawat asking him to address issues of immediate concern facing the state, such as the appointment of Pantnagar University VC without further delay and improving the law and order situation.
The letter signed by nearly two dozen state BJP leaders, including former MLA Trivendra Singh Rawat, Dhan Singh Rawat, MLA Ganesh Joshi, Umesh Aggrawal and Urbadutt Bhatt, attributed the delay in appointment of the Vice Chancellor to the "idleness of the state government".
"It is no doubt due to the negligent and idle attitude of the state government that the VC's post of such a prestigious university which played a pivotal role in the green revolution is still lying vacant," the letter said.
Noting that non-appointment of the VC had led to a deterioration in the educational standards of the varsity, the opposition party leaders requested the chief minister to make a suitable appointment to the post without further delay.
Alleging that the law and order situation had touched an all time low in the state with rise in criminal incidents like loot, murder and suicides, the BJP leaders opined that it had hurt the image of the state known earlier for the simplicity of its people.
The letter asked the chief minister to streamline things on the law and order front by reining in activities of the mining mafia and dealing sternly with wrongdoers of all kinds.
They also complained of non-availability of medicines and doctors at health facilities in the state and urged the chief minister to immediately do something about it in public interest.
However, rubbishing the charges, Harish Rawat's media incharge Surendra Kumar said the demonstration was unnecessary and reflected the BJP's frustration at measures taken by the state government for public welfare.
