Shimla MP Suresh Kashyap takes up Hattee issue with MHA

Tribune News Service

Solan, January 3

Shimla MP Suresh Kashyap today raised the issue of grant of the Schedule Tribe (ST) status to the Hattee community of the trans-Giri area of Sirmaur with the Additional Registrar General of India (ARGI), Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

This has been a key poll issue for the past several years in the trans-Giri area of Sirmaur and the ruling BJP was facing flak for having failed to get the demand fulfilled. Hattee leaders have now threatened to prohibit the entry of politicians in their 144 panchayats if their demand was not met. This has sent alarm bells ringing as the Assembly elections are due at the year end.

The state government has been pursuing the case since 2016 with little success. The Tran-Giri area was part of the erstwhile Jaunsar Bawar area of Uttarakhand where the Hattee community has been granted the ST status. Both areas were part of the royal Sirmaur state

Only Kinnaur enjoys the ST status. Since granting the tribal status to the area requires a constitutional amendment, the issue requires an in-depth analysis of the situation. Former Shimla MP Virender Kashyap had also pursued the case with the Central Government without success.