Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Tuesday said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah has assured that the Centre will give positive consideration to the state government’s request for inclusion of the Hatti community in the Scheduled Tribes list.
Thakur told ANI on Tuesday that all the formalities to include the Hatti community in the tribal community list will be completed soon. The community has been demanding tribal status since 1968. Thakur met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday. The Hatti community is demographically spread in four Assembly constituencies of the Sirmour district – Shillai, Paonta, Renuka and Pachhad. The community has tribal status in Uttarakhand which shares a border with the Sirmour district.
“They were accorded this status long back in 1968 and share similar culture and socio-economic conditions with those residing in district Sirmour,” Thakur said.
“In 1967, half of their family members who went to the Jaunsar area of Uttarakhand became tribals and those who remained on the Himachal side were not included. We have been trying to address the matter for some time,” he added.
The Chief Minister said that the move will benefit about three lakh population of 154 panchayats of Trans Giri area in the state.
The Chief Minister said the state government has provided the Union Home Ministry all the technical information that was sought by the Registrar General of India.
“The Hatti community in Himachal Pradesh has been demanding tribal status for a long time. I met Union Home Minister and discussed this. All technicalities will be fulfilled soon and the Hatti community will be given the status of the tribal community,” Thakur told ANI.
The Chief Minister referred to the long struggle for getting the tribal status during Congress governments and said it was turned down many times. However, he said, that BJP governments at the Centre and state always took a favourable stand for the cause of the Hatti Community and the present central government has understood the genuineness of the long-pending demand and struggle of the community.
Thakur said that the BJP is ready for the assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh later this year.
“We will come back to power again in the state,” he said.
Himachal Pradesh Energy Minister Sukhram Chaudhary, who represents Sirmaur said people of the Hatti community have struggled for a long time.
“We have raised this demand from time to time. Today, the Chief Minister of the state took up this matter again and we are happy that the Centre has agreed to fulfil the demand,” he said.