U'khand MPs asked to raise green bonus issue during Budget

Chief Minister Harish Rawat today asked all MPs from Uttarakhand to speak strongly in favour of a green bonus of Rs 2,000 crore for the hill state when the general budget is debated in both Houses of Parliament.
In separate letters to all MPs from the state including three former BJP chief ministers -- Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari and Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank, Rawat has requested them to effectively raise the issue of a green bonus for the state when the general budget is discussed in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
Rawat's media in-charge Surendra Kumar told reporters here today that letters have also been written to Lok Sabha members Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah and Ajay Tamta, and Rajya Sabha members Tarun Vijay and Mahendra Singh Mahra.

Expressing his dissatisfaction at the treatment meted out to Uttarakhand in both rail and general budgets, Rawat said a perusal of the two documents shows that the interests of a strategically significant state like Uttarakhand have been totally ignored.
Referring to separate letters he had written recently to the Union Finance Minister and the Rail Minister seeking a green bonus for the state and rail links for its strategically important border areas, the chief minister said the points raised by him had been completely forgotten.
Asking the MPs to make a positive contribution to the state's development, he said they should strongly raise issues confronting the calamity-ravaged state and seek a green bonus for it from the Centre in recognition of the steps taken by the state for environment conservation when the general budget is debated in both houses of Parliament.

The Chief Minister is still undergoing treatment at AIIMS in Delhi for a neck injury.