March at Nahan against tribal status to Hattees

Tribune News Service

Solan, July 11

Various organisations today took out a march at Nahan opposing the ST status to residents of the trans-Giri area of Sirmaur district as the area has 40 per cent SC population.

Various organisations, including the SC Adhikar Sarankshan Samiti, the Dalit Shoshan Mukti Morcha, the Bhim Army, the Vishvkarma Sabha, the Yuva Koli Samaj, the Akhil Bhartiya Koli Samaj and the Balmiki Sabha got together against the move.

Hattees don't exist

The Registrar General of India's 2017 report had stated that there was no tribe named Hattee and it could not be granted constitutional status. — SC organisation leaders

They marched through the Nahan bazaar and gave a memorandum through the DC, Sirmaur, to the Prime Minister.

Various speakers comprising Ashish Kumar, Vipin Kumar and Anil Manget highlighted that the Registrar General of India’s 2017 report had stated that there was no tribe named Hattee and it could not be granted constitutional status under Section 342(2).

The speakers also claimed that there was no social community named as Hattee.

They said the declaration of the Hattee community as ST would render the Prevention of SC ST Atrocities Act,1989, defunct and this would further increase the acts of atrocities against this community.

As many as 122 cases of atrocities have been registered in Sirmaur district from 2015 to 2022 and 106 pertained to the trans-Giri area.

They feared that if all castes were declared Hattee ST, it would deprive them of reservation in panchayati raj institutions.

They gave the example of Kinnaur where the posts of pradhan were reserved for ST while OBC and SC communities were deprived of this benefit as per the 2020 reservation roster.

They claimed that the survey report of the Registrar General had failed to take into account the 40 per cent SC population.

They said it was unfortunate that none of the MLAs had turned up from their areas.

They also asked the residents to decide whether they should vote for a person who failed to stand by them. They warned the politicians not to declare the area as tribal merely for their political motives.

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