Ghost villages of Uttarakhand

The issue of excessive migration from Uttarakhand villages of Garhwal and Kumaon divisions at the interstate level and to the city metropolises of the country has been the basic problem that exposes every government of Uttarakhand whether of Congress or BJP who’d ruled the state during the last nineteen years.

However, migration prior to the formation of the Uttarakhand separate state was phenomenal as Uttarakhand being annexed with Uttar Pradesh was the most neglected part with the least facilities of medical treatment and nonavailability of job avenues at the local level. In Uttarakhand, while Garhwal witnessed maximum migration than Kumaon division after independence, the Pauri district has been on the forefront in Garhwal.

It is usually felt that since there was comparatively much literacy in the Pauri district due to its enhanced development by the Britishers after they were allocated the Gangapaar area of Pauri after Singhauli pact with the king of Tehri in 1803 or so when the Gorkhas and Nepalese attacked the Tehri Garhwal Kingdom and created havoc with people’s lives killing them mercilessly. According to available statistics, Pauri was the first district in Garhwal Uttarakhand that witnessed tremendous migration from villages later on followed by Tehri and similarly from Kumaon division, etc. But the most disturbing trend was noticed after the formation of the Uttarakhand separate state on November 9, 2000.

As per the general perception, more than thirty lakh people migrated to cities and towns within and outside the state obviously in search of job avenues, better health facilities and quality education for their children. Today, inhabitants of Uttarakhand are in top positions in the union government to name a few viz NSA Ajit Doval, Chief of the Defence Staff and former Army chief Vipin Rawat, ex DGMO Anil Bhatt, former RAW chief Rakesh Dhasmana, former DG of India Coast Guard Rajendra Singh and so on and so forth. In politics and other areas too, Uttarakhandies have earned tremendous respect and popularity. The ancestors of these champions had also migrated to cities once and it’s only due to this migration that they’ve progressed by leaps and bounds.

But that’s not a question. Migration before 2000 was inevitable as then Garhwal and Kumaon divisions lacked basic amenities and a lack of job avenues, health facilities, and quality education to a great extent. But enhancement in the migration after the formation of a separate state of Uttarakhand is indeed a matter of immense worry. There have been tremendous so-called efforts and initiatives by the previous Congress and present BJP governments to ensure the repatriation or reversal of the migrants to Uttarakhand but unfortunately, it can’t exhibit constructive results despite the hard fact that Uttarakhand has comparatively progressed much, though not in all fields. One will be shocked to know that about 3000 villages in Uttarakhand are almost on the verge of extinction with few people left including the closure of more than 2000 primary and middle schools.

Even dearth of the population has resulted in the closure of five local hospitals in Pithoragarh to club them with the main government hospital. There is a dearth of active agricultural farming with fifty percent of farms having turned into barren lands having excessive growth of wild plants. In view of the massive migration, the wild monkeys, bears, pigs, and even maneaters have started creating havoc with the lives of the local, remaining residents by destroying the farms and the agricultural produce. While Uttarakhand has a population of 1.5 crore majority of the people have shifted to cities and towns leaving the farming barren inviting wildlife to the villages posing a direct threat to their lives as well. The dreaded incidents of wild bears, maneaters claiming several lives is on the increase.

To substantiate this contention Bendul village in Kot Block merely a few kilometers away from Pauri township has a single old woman residing lonely as per the news published a year ago. The entire village having been converted into a jungle with shrubs growing all around. Similarly once a most prosperous and bustling village near Srinagar, Garhwal called Sumari which once had 600 to 800 houses and bustling families is today confined to merely fifty families. The village Chatwaad in Tehri Garhwal as reported by a social activist and entrepreneur in Delhi T. S. Bhandari there is a single mother residing in the village of Ex DGMO Anil Bhatt in Tehri Garhwal’s Lostu Baryargarh area. This village was once extremely active with Bhatts, Uniyal, Joshi, and Bahugunas living here.

Sounds shocking and highly worrisome that slowly and gradually the exodus of villagers of Uttarakhand to cities n metropolises in on the rise and no credible efforts are being made by the government in power to curtail this most disturbing trend. Fortunately, the ceiling on 12.5 acres of land purchase has been opened for outsiders by officially allowing them to buy 30 or more acres of land in Uttarakhand to establish and expand their businesses may affect the cultural and linguistic character of Uttarakhand as in any culture that tries to open up. But this step will help reverse the movement away from the villages of Uttarakhand. What’s your take friends?

As per the May 5th, 2018 report Uttarakashi in the last seven years has witnessed 70 Ghost villages while Chamoli has 41 ghost villages, 20 villages in Rudraprayag, 58 in Tehri Garhwal district, seven in Dehradun’s outskirts, 186 in Pauri, 75 in Pithoragarh, Kumaon division, 77 in Jageshwar, 57 in Almora, 64 in Champawat, 22 in Nainital, 19 in Udham Singh Nagar n 38 in Haridwar. This survey was highlighted in a TOI news report.