CM to launch projects in Mussoorie

Ajay Ramola

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, September 1

Chief Minister Harish Rawat will pay homage to the martyrs at Shaheed Sthal and inaugurate several projects here tomorrow.

The exercise of decorating the Shaheed Sthal (separate statehood martyrs memorial) began to commemorate the anniversary of police firing on the statehood agitators on September 2, 1994, in Mussoorie.

Six persons namely late Balbir Singh Negi (22), Belmati Chauhan (48), Dhanpat Singh, Hansa Dhanai (45), Madan Mohan Mamgain, Rai Singh Bangari (54), were killed during the indiscriminate police firing

which also led to death of Deputy Superintendent of Police Umakant Tripathi, 21 years back on 1994.

These events changed the course of the movement as the agitation turned into a mass movement forcing the successive governments and political parties to agree for a separate hill state and the statehood dream was fulfilled on 9 November 2000.

However, not many people in Mussoorie are satisfied with the growth chart of the state, as the basic issues of the hilly people of jal, jungle and zameen (water, forest and land) remain unattended even after creation of a separate state, leaving behind the feeling that the sacrifice of the martyrs has gone in vain.

The Saheed Sthal (separate statehood martyrs memorial) that was renovated after spending more than Rs 70 lakh this year, tells the grim tale of neglect as the pictures taken by Hari Singh Gunsola told the tale of the police firing that took place on September 2 in 1994 and were part of the memorial are no more to be seen.

Hari Singh, the photo-journalist, who took photos and painstakingly placed them at the Shaheed Sthal after being dejected at the government’s attitude for not considering his role in the separate state movement has taken them back and kept all the pictures in his closet.

Anil Godiyal, a former member of the Andolankari Parishad, informed The Tribune that the case of Hari Singh Gunsola had been put in front of the government on several occasions but no action had been initiated so far.

Bhagwan Singh Dhanai, husband of martyr Hansa Dhanai, who lost her life during September 2 police firing is also dissatisfied man and believes that the sacrifices of the martyrs have gone in vain.

“Nothing has changed since the formation of the separate state of Uttarakhand. The statehood agitators (andolankaris) are yet to be identified. I am the member of the Shaheed Sthal committee and find it immensely awkward that they have forgotten to write a plaque describing the history of the movement and what went on September 2 in 1914. It is like constructing a hospital building but not providing a doctor in it,” said Dhanai.

Ellen, a tourist from Seattle, USA, is also puzzled that the government has made such a beautiful martyrs with hilly architecture but has not made arrangements of describing the history behind it.

Municipal Council member Vinod Semwal is also critical of the path taken after the formation of the separate state and is of the view that the issues such as unemployment, migration from hills and women welfare remain a distant dream hence proving that the sacrifice of the martyrs have gone in vain.