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Proposal to declare Hatti community as ST pending with Centre: HP tribal affairs minister
HP’s tribal affairs minister Ram Lal Markanda said in the assembly that the matter is still pending with the Union tribal affairs ministry
The Himachal Pradesh government has sent an ethnographical proposal to the ministry of tribal affairs, Government of India, for the inclusion of Hatti community of Trans-Giri area of Sirmaur in the Scheduled Tribe list of Himachal Pradesh, state’s tribal affairs minister Ram Lal Markanda said in the assembly on Thursday.
The matter is still pending with the Union tribal affairs ministry, Markanda said while replying to a question raised by Shillai MLA Harshvardhan Chauhan.
The minister said in March 2021, the Union ministry had intimated that the criteria for declaration of scheduled area envisages preponderance of tribal population, compactness and reasonable size of the area, a viable administrative entity such as district, block or taluk, and economic backwardness of the area as compared to the neighbouring areas.
He said that in view of these conditions, population of the Trans-Giri area to be declared as Scheduled Area must be more than 50% whereas presently, ST community residing in the Trans-Giri area is only 0.20% as per the 2011 census.
In order to declare Trans-Giri as Scheduled Area, firstly the Hatti community residing there needs to be declared as a Scheduled Tribe for which the proposal has been sent.
Replying to a question raised by the leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said the Centre has given in-principle approval to build 69 roads (4,311km) as national highways. He said that 61 roads were given approval in 2016 seven in 2017.
He said of the total, the DPRs of 63 roads were being processed by Himachal Pradesh PWD. Their total length is 4,031km. Apart from this, the DPR of three roads is being prepared by National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) and DPRs of two roads have already been built as per national highway standards and proposal was sent to the Union ministry of surface transport and highways in January 2019.
Draft alignment reports of 58 roads out of 63 have also been submitted to the Union ministry for the approval and are under consideration, he added.
He said that no final approval has been received yet for these proposals and the process to modify the previous guidelines for declaring new national highways is underway.
These guidelines will also be applicable to those roads which have been declared as national highways in principle due to which there is a delay in getting the approval, the CM said.
In another question raised by the Sujanpur MLA Rajinder Singh Rana, Jai Ram said a proposal related to allowing commercial cultivation of hemp is under consideration of the state government.
However, no areas have been identified for hemp cultivation and also no NGO or company has been authorised yet in this regard, he added.
CM flags off mobile medical units
HP chief minister Jai Ram Thakur virtually inaugurated Hans Renal Care Centre at Mandi and launched the mobile medical unit programme by flagging off 15 units to different parts of the state from Shimla.
The chief minister said that his government was committed to providing quality health services to the people of the Himachal nearer to their homes. He said efforts were being made to strengthen the health infrastructure in the state.
He said that the HP government had signed an MoU with Hans Foundation on January 7 for operation and management of 10 dialysis centres and 40 mobile medical units in the state. He said 10 dialysis centres would be operated across the state by Hans Foundation to provide free facilities in government hospitals.
He said that four dialysis centres would be operated by the organisation in Mandi, two each in Solan and Shimla and one each in Kangra and Kinnaur.
Each dialysis unit would be operated through three machines in each identified hospital, he added.
All necessary equipment, management, human resources, medicines and electricity and water facilities will be provided by the institution, Jai Ram said.
The CM said the state government not only effectively battled the Covid pandemic, but also emerged as champion in vaccination campaign.
He said in order to provide health facilities in the far-flung areas of the state, 10 medical mobile units were being operated by Jeevandhara Mobile Health and Wellness Centre. He said that under this programme, free medical consultation and screening for blood pressure, diabetes and cancer were also being done by the medical officers.
The chief minister said that 40 mobile medical units would be operated by the organisation to provide free quality primary health services in the state, through which a total of 960 villages of Kangra, Mandi, Kullu, Shimla and Solan districts would be covered.
He said that mobile medical units were an innovative model of healthcare delivery that could help alleviate health disparities in vulnerable populations and individuals.
By opening their doors directly into communities and leveraging existing community assets, such units can offer tailored, high-impact and affordable healthcare that responds dynamically to the community’s evolving needs, he added.
Education minister Govind Singh Thakur said that Hans Foundation was doing a commendable philanthropic job to help the suffering humanity.
Health minister Dr Rajiv Saizal said the present state government was under the able leadership of chief minister Jai Ram Thakur.
