The Hindu : New Delhi News : U.P. Congress seeks Bundelkhand State

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U.P. Congress seeks Bundelkhand State

Gargi Parsai

Vidarbha-like relief package also demanded

Over 200 farmers’ suicides reported in the region
Allege that NREG programme not properly implemented

NEW DELHI: On the eve of Rahul Gandhi’s, Congress general secretary, rally in Uttar Pradesh, Congress leaders from the State on Friday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to demand a separate Bundelkhand State. They also sought a Prime Minister’s Rehabilitation Package on the lines of the Vidarbha package for the region that is reeling under drought and has reportedly seen over 200 farmers’ suicides in the last seven months.

“We have sought reconstitution of the second State Reorganisation Commission for considering our demand for a separate Bundelkhand State,” said Rita-Bahuguna Joshi, the PCC Chief. Rahul Gandhi is addressing a rally in Jhansi next week.

Their other demands include a waiver of farmers’ loans, a three-year moratorium on interest payment and watershed programmes.

The Congress delegation that met the Prime Minister comprised AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh, Ms. Joshi, CLP leader Pramod Tiwari, former PCC Chiefs Jagdambika Pal, Arun Kumar Singh and MLAs Pradeep Jain and Vinod Chati.

They later met Rahul Gandhi to seek his intervention with the Central government on these issues. “His word carries weight,” said Ms. Joshi. She said the local MLAs had moved a resolution for a separate Bundelkhand State in the Assembly “but it is not being taken up for discussion.”

The PCC Chief said the Congress had conducted a study which had brought out that Bundelkhand was reeling under severe water scarcity owing to low rainfall in the region. “In the last two to three years 2,000 farmers have committed suicides, of which 204 cases took place in the last seven months. Of the 37 lakh migrants, 53 per cent were Dalits. There are reports of women selling their babies for their [the babies’] survival.”

Noting that U.P. Chief Minister Mayawati “never once” visited the region, Ms. Joshi alleged that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREG) and other central government irrigation schemes were “not being properly implemented.”

The State government had announced compensation to farmers with below five acres land-holding but even that has not been implemented properly, she said.

According to her, the Prime Minister expressed concern that central funds were not reaching the target groups. He has asked the Planning Commission to study the State unit’s report on Bundelkhand.

A central team will visit the region next week for spot assessment.

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