Dehradun, 14 May:
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has announced to set up High Level Rehabilitation Committee to connect Van Gujjars to the main stream of the society and to look into the rehabilitation and other issues pertaining to them. The Committee would be headed by Chief Secretary and Secretary Forest and secretaries of other concerned departments would be its Members. The Committee would submit report on rehabilitation, health, education and other welfare issues of Gujjars in two months to the Chief Minister. Mr. Bahuguna also assured Gujjars of endeavour from State Government's side to pursue the Centre to provide them the status of Scheduled Tribes. The Van Gujjars are presently enjoying status of OBC in the State.
Chief Minister Bahuguna in his inaugural address of Gujjar Work Shop at ICFRE Auditorium on Monday said that all the Gujjars identified in Census conducted in 2006 would be provided all possible facilities. He assured them to visit personally their rehabilitation habitats and take stock of the situation after two months. Mr. Bahuguna directed the District Magistrate to provide BPL Cards and ensure there was no problem for the Gujjar Students in pursuing education. Meanwhile, Mr. Bahuguna expected that Gujjars would not allow anything to happen that might harm the eco-system and wild animals. He said that a separate Policy would be chalked out for them. He asserted that Forest Conservation Act was meant for the benefit of the society.
The Chief Minister also lent a patient hearing to the grievances put forth by the Gujjar leaders mainly regarding rehabilitation and education. Also present on the occasion were Principal Chief Forest Conservator Dr. RBS Rawat, Principal Forest Conservator AS Sharma, Chief Forest Conservator DBS Khati and officers of various departments.
