Thousands stage protest rally in HP's Sirmaur demanding tribal status for Hattis

Over 5,000 demonstrators participated in the 'Hatti Akrosh Maha rally' in Himachal Pradesh's Sirmaur district on Saturday to demand tribal status for the Hatti community, the protest organisers claimed.

Leaders of Kendriya Hatti Samiti, an organisation of the Hatti community, announced that they would further intensy the agitation as the Himachal Pradesh government is not addressing their demands.

The next 'Hatti Akrosh Maha rally' would be soon organised in the Anj Bhoj area of the Trans-Giri track, the leaders said.

The Hatti tribals predominantly reside in the 154 panchayats of the Trans-Giri area in Sirmaur district.

More than 5,000 members of the Hatti community, including youth and women, gathered at the PWD rest house ground at Shillai in Sirmaur on Saturday morning in in traditional attire, members of Kendriya Hatti Samiti said.

After holding a public meeting, the protesters marched towards the office of the sub divisional magistrate (SDM) to raise their demand for the implementation of Hatti tribal status law (schedule tribe) order, (second amendment) act, 2023, for the past four months, they added.

Marching with beats of drums and traditional musical instruments such as 'dubantu', 'hulak', and 'ransingha', Hatti agitators carried placards and raised slogans demanding immediate implementation of Hatti tribal status law.

The protesters handed over two memorandums to Shillai SDM, addressed to the governor and chief minister of Himachal Pradesh.

Addressing the gathering, Ami Chand Kamal, president of Kendriya Hatti Samiti alleged that the Congress-led state government was sitting on the Hatti tribal status law for the past four months.

The gazette notification was issued by the President of India in this regard on August 4, 2023, after a constitutional amendment by the Parliament.

Former MLA and BJP leader Baldev Singh Tomar who took part in the protest said the Hatti agitation started in 1968 when the Centre had declared Jaunsar-Babur as a Scheduled Tribe area but left out the Trans-Giri area which was a part of Jaunsar Babur.

Kundan Singh Shastri, general secretary of Hatti Samiti, alleged that the state government was ignoring the concerns of their community and warned of growing anguish among Hatti youths against the state government.

Shastri said over 10,000 job vacancies have been announced by the Union and state governments but the Hatti youths are not able to apply in the tribal quota.

He reiterated the organisation's appeal to Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu to immediately intervene in the matter and ensure that tribal status certificates are issued to all Hatti youths so that they can avail of the reservation benefit in the ongoing recruitments.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)