Gopeshwar: Villagers engaged in various businesses in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts met here on Thursday and decided to launch an agitation against their alleged eviction from forest areas in the name of encroachment removal.
People from Madhu Ganga Valley to Pushpavati Valley gathered here under the leadership of former Kedarnath MLA Manoj Rawat and protested against what they described as their forcible eviction from forest areas.
They also sent a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, requesting him to stop the action.
Talking to reporters in Gopeshwar, Rawat said the affected people are being organised to oppose the government action.
They are now uniting to launch a “Goundar to Bhundar struggle”, Rawat said.
At a time when people in every part of Uttarakhand are reeling from rain-related disasters, they are being evicted from their land, he said. “The government is conspiring to ruin the villages and towns in these remote districts in the name of removing encroachments,” he alleged.
According to Rawat, people from Kedarnath, Chamasi, Phata, Kalishila, Goundar (Madmaheshwar Valley), Chopta-Tungnath and other remote areas of Rudraprayag; Anusuya Mata, Dumak-Kalgot, Seon-Bemru, Kalpeshwar, Bhundar-Ghangaria-Valley of Flowers and Bhavishya Badri in Chamoli to Pithoragarh’s Milam-Munsiyari are being evicted under the conspiracy.
Under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, a committee should be formed in every village to verify the claims of these entitled original inhabitants, the former lawmaker said.
The affected people should be heard honestly and their claims settled under the relevant acts, he added. —PTI
