All party delegation meets CM Pushkar Singh Dhami and demands to declare Uttarakhand’s populace as forest dwellers with free electricity, water and domestic gas

An all party delegation led by the former chief of Uttarakhand Congress Kishore Upadhyay today met the Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and presented him a memorandum demanding declaration of the inhabitants of the himalayan state as , “forest dwellers, ” compounded with granting of basic traditional fundamental rights of water and forests.

It also demanded free electricity, water and domestic gas to the inhabitants of Uttarakhand in order to compensate them for depriving them of their basic fundamental forests rights till yet.

The all party delegation included the convenor of Uttarakhand Vanadhikar movement and former Congressman chief Kishore Upadhyay, leader of the Communist Party of India and state secretary Samar Bhandari, the Uttarakhand state Samajwadi chief Dr. Satyanarayan Sachan, Garhwal Mandal secretary of Marxist Communist Party ( ML) Indresh Maikhuri and Rajesh Pant, state convenor of Trinamool Congress etc.

The memorandum submitted to the Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, apart from the above demands also reiterated on the Vanadhikaar Andolan’s earlier demands like reservation in the central government services for its inhabitants, including granting of Rs 25 lakhs as monetory compensation with a government job to the next of the kin of the bereaved families whose family member is killed by man eaters.

Other points related to granting of sole rights to the local populace to harness the herbal plants n medicines n water etc were also incorporated in the memorandum presented to the chief minister.

While interacting with the delegation Pushkar Singh Dhani assured them of all possible help including convening of a meeting of all the stake holders in this context at the earliest.

According to former Uttarakhand Congress chief Kishore Upadhyay, the opportune time has arrived when serious thought needs to be given to the grievances related to forests and wild animals as the existing rules and regulations are straight away harming the interests of Uttarakhand’s electorates.

The leaders of the delegation urged the chief minister to initiate positive action in this regard before the assembly session to be commenced in the near future.

Several social organisations of Uttarakhand viz Uttarakhand Journalist Forum, Uttarakhand Lok Vahini, Uttarakhand Mahila Manch, Chetna Andolan, Jan Samvad Samitti, Vanadhikar Andolan, Yugwani, Uttarakhand Vimarsh, People’s Forum, Uttarakhand, Himalaya Bachao Andolan, Ganga Bachao Andolan, Zila Chai Bagaan Mazdoor Sabha, Nav Jawan Bharat Sabha etc have already expressed their solidarity to the above demands being signatory to the memorandum as well.

The delegation leaders later on had the luch of Uttarakhand delicacies like “Phaanu Bhaatand Jhangore ki kheer” at a restaurant Pyari Pahadan in Dehradun to promote the Uttarakhand delicacies/ dishes