Himachal CM meets Amit Shah, discusses granting 'tribal' status to Hatti Community

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], July 31 (ANI): Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday said that he met the Union Home Minister Amit Shah and held a discussion regarding granting tribal status to the "Hatti Community" of Sirmour district.
The Chief Minister said that Amit Shah had assured him that the Central government would soon take a final call in the larger interest of the Hatti community.
He expected that the Union Government would soon accord tribal status to the Hatti community and meet the long pending demand of this community.
The Hatti community is demographically spread in four Assembly constituencies of the Sirmour district - Shillai, Paonta, Renuka and Pachhad. The community has tribal status in Uttarakhand which shares a border with the Sirmour district.
In April, Thakur met Shah and said the Union Minister has assured him that the Centre will give positive consideration to the state government's request for inclusion of the Hatti community in the Scheduled Tribes list.
"The Hatti community in Himachal Pradesh has been demanding tribal status for a long time. I met Union Home Minister and discussed this. All technicalities will be fulfilled soon and the Hatti community will be given the status of the tribal community," Thakur told ANI back then.
The Chief Minister referred to the long struggle for getting the tribal status during Congress governments and said it was turned down many times.
However, he said, that BJP governments at the Centre and state always took a favourable stand for the cause of the Hatti Community and the present central government has understood the genuineness of the long-pending demand and struggle of the community. (ANI)