NEW DELHI, Aug 15: The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) on Friday, said it would intensify its agitation for the creation of a separate state in the hill districts of Uttar Pradesh with a bandh in the region on Saturday, to be followed by a protest rally in the national capital.

``It is unfortunate that Prime Minister I K Gujral, in his Independence Day address, did not give any concrete assurance with regard to Uttarakhand. He merely reiterated what H D Deve Gowda said last year, without giving any time frame,'' UKD spokesman Suresh Nautiyal, told PTI here.

Accusing the CPM of creating obstacles in the formation of Uttarakhand, Nautiyal said, ``They are unnecessarily comparing our agitation with that of Gorkhaland. We have all along remained peaceful even when the modesty of our women was outraged by the PAC at Muzaffarnagar.''

Nautiyal reminded the CPM leadership that they were the first to launch a movement for the separate state of Uttarakhand way back in 1952. The UKD spokesman charged the Centre with ``insincerity'' on the issue saying, ``When three resolutions in support of a separate state have been passed by the State Assembly, why is the Centre sitting on the issue.''

In his address to the nation, Prime Minister I K Gujral said the Centre would take steps in this regard very soon.

Nautiyal said the UKD had finalised a number of programmes to protest against the Centre's ``recalcitrant stand'' with regard to Uttarakhand. The programmes include a complete bandh in the region on Saturday, a protest rally in New Delhi and siege at Khatima in memory of its activists killed in a police firing three years back.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.