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CPI(M) raises similar demand

By Our Staff Correspondent

DEHRA DUN, FEB. 18. Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat has called for a development needs-oriented formula for fresh delimitation in Uttaranchal and other backward regions of the country.

The party leaders would soon be meeting the Delimitation Commission chairperson and seek special attention towards the folly that would be committed if delimitation was done on the basis of the population in Uttaranchal. The present formula if applied would lead to a decrease of 10 Assembly seats from the hills and increase the number of seats for the plains to 40 in the 70-member Assembly. This would mean geographically bigger constituencies and lesser funds and attention to the hills -- a situation that would be against the very theory of smaller administrative units which gave birth to Uttaranchal, she said at a press conference here on Thursday.

Refusing to accept the hill-plain divide theory, Ms Karat said that her party stood for pragmatic delimitation processes that safeguarded the economic, social and political aspirations of all people.

The party was in touch with the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and the Communist Party of India for forming a viable third front in Uttaranchal as the people were totally disillusioned with the performances of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, she said. "We hope to make a comfortable presence in the Vidhan Sabha after the next elections," she said.

The party would conduct a sample survey in Uttaranchal to assess the economic and social needs of the people. Initial reports had shown that malnutrition was rampant in the region.

Describing the Narain Dutt Tiwari Government as a total failure, Ms Karat expressed serious concern on Uttaranchal emerging as the only State in the country where the Government was heavily funding NGOs of the wives and relatives of the Chief Secretary and other bureaucrats. "We welcome social service by wives of officers -- but that should not be at State expense," she said.

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CPI(M) raises similar demand

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