Three weeks after erstwhile chief minister Vijay Bahuguna nominated 15 members to the Uttarakhand State Commission for Women, only six have joined so far, keeping the all-important panel in a state of limbo.
While two vice-chairpersons from the Garhwal and Kumaon zones and four members have joined the commission, nine members from different districts are yet to join the women's panel.
Members who have joined the commission so far include Meeta Upadhyay (Almora), Krishna Khatri (Dehradun), Ghazala Jabeen (Haridwar) and Reza Chaudhary (Chamoli).
Prabhawati Gaur (Uttarkashi) and Amita Lohani (Ramnagar) have joined in as vice-chairpersons of Garhwal and Kumaon zones, respectively.
While some are still waiting to receive their nomination letters in order to join the Commission officially, there are others who are even not aware of their nomination, which explains why some of them have not contacted the women's body till now.
The Bahuguna regime ensured hasty nominations of women Congress workers last month, shortly before the change of guard in Uttarakhand.
However, it appears that it did not provide vital information — like contact numbers of the members — to the commission, which is presently trying hard to connect with the yet-to-join members.
“We have no clue about the members who have not contacted us till now. In fact, we have not been given their contact details so we are now trying to find them ourselves through the network of Congress workers", said Sujata, current member-secretary of the commission.
However, it appears that it did not provide vital information — like contact numbers of the members — to the commission, which is presently trying hard to connect with the yet-to-join members.
“We have no clue about the members who have not contacted us till now. In fact, we have not been given their contact details so we are now trying to find them ourselves through the network of Congress workers", said Sujata, current member-secretary of the commission.
The Commission is hoping that the nominated members will participate in Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's February 22 rally in Dehradun during which Congress' women workers from all over Uttarakhand are expected to reach the state capital.
However, despite the delay in getting started some of the newly-appointed members cannot wait to address women's issues in their respective areas.
Amidst growing concerns for women security in Uttarakhand, Amita Lohani,
vice-chairperson of Kumaon zone, wants to make crime against women 'a chapter of the past' in the state.
"My main aim would be to take steps for eliminating gender-based crime. I would vouch for women being trained in self-defense. Pushing for women education, especially in the far-flung areas of Kumaon, would also be on my priority list," said Lohani, who has been the general secretary of Nainital district's Congress women cell in the
past.