The bill was tabled by the secretary of the Vidhan Sabha.

Later, Chief Minister Kalyan Singh moved a resolution seeking 26 amendments in the bill including exclusion of Hardwar district from the proposed hill state.

The three-day special session of the Uttar Pradesh Legislature was convened for the passage of the resolution on creation of Uttarakhand.

The original bill as sent by the President of India for seeking the opinion of the state Legislature in connection with the creation of a separate hill state.

The debate on the proposed amendments will take place in the House tomorrow which would resolve to send it to the central government for follow-up action.

In spite of the threat of withdrawal of support by the Akali Dal, a party supporting the BJP-led coalition at the Centre,the state government has chosen to remain quiet on the issue of inclusion of Udhamsingh Nagar in the proposed state.

The amendment says till the time a high court is not constituted in the proposed hill state, the Allahabad high court will decide the cases. Uttar Pradesh and the proposed state can both start such water resources projects in their respective states as are not harmful to the interests of the other.

According to the amendment, the Central government will provide Rs 50 crore for the setting up of a capital for the new state although the bill mentioned that this was the responsibility of the state government.

The original bill had proposed Uttarakhand comprising 13 districts inclusive of Hardwar and Udhamsingh Nagar. The state government sought to change the composition of the hill state to 12 districts, excluding Hardwar.

The chief minister, moving his resolution of amendments, proposed to change the name of the hill state from Uttarakhand to Uttaranchal. The original draft had mentionedUttarakhand as the name of the proposed hill state.

The proposed state is to comprise Pauri, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Nainital, Almora, Pithoragarh, Udhamsingh Nagar, Bageshwar, Champawat and Rudraprayag districts.

According to the amendment, Uttarakhand will get 20 per cent of the hydel power generated by the Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Board. The former would have to pay the cost of production for this.

The Uttar Pradesh government has retained all the rights relating to power generation. According to the amendment, the rights and responsibilities related to the present irrigation and hydel projects or even those under construction in Uttarakhand will vest with the Uttar Pradesh government.

According to the amendment, the members of the state Vidhan Parishad who are bonafide residents of Uttarakhand, would now be members of the interim Vidhan Sabha of the proposed state.