my uttarakhand news Bureau
Ramnagar, 12 Mar: A padyatra was taken out in Ramnagar today under the leadership of former Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader Harish Rawat demanding that forest villages be declared revenue villages and that villagers granted ownership rights over their land. The march, organised with slogans of “Jal, Jungle, Zameen Hamari”, witnessed the participation of a large number of villagers and public representatives.
Among those who joined the padyatra were Ramnagar Block Pramukh Manju Negi, Senior Block Pramukh Sanjay Negi and former state minister Pushkar Durgapal, along with dozens of villagers from different areas. Holding banners and placards, the participants raised slogans such as “Dhami Government, wake up” and “Grant revenue village status and ownership rights to forest villages”.
The padyatra passed through various routes of Ramnagar town and concluded in the tehsil premises, where a memorandum was submitted to the SDM. A large number of people remained present during the march. The villagers demanded that the government take a decision on the issue at the earliest.
Addressing the media on this occasion, Harish Rawat alleged that the government is doing injustice to the land rights of poor people. He alleged that, instead of providing land to disaster-affected families and landless persons, their land rights are being undermined. He said that earlier there had been a vision under which villages were established in areas such as Maldhan, Bindukhata and Puchhri in Ramnagar, but that vision now needs to be taken forward.
The former CM said the struggle was not related to any particular political party but was linked to the very existence of Uttarakhand. With this spirit, he had come to Ramnagar and was standing with the villagers in their demand to convert forest villages into revenue villages.
Harish Rawat said that, during his tenure as CM, the process to convert forest villages into revenue villages had been initiated. He said that a proposal had been brought before the Cabinet on 26 December, in which 12 categories of land were classified and provisions were made to grant ownership rights to several villages. These included Indira Gaon, Hariram Arya Gaon and several other villages from the hill as well as plain areas.
He alleged that, after the change of government, the proposal was not implemented and had been set aside. He asserted that the struggle would continue until forest villages were granted their rightful status and rights.
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