Centre to grant ST status to Hatti community soon: Himachal CM

Addressing a press conference, Thakur said, “The Hatti community has been demanding ST status for a long time. The community is spread across 154 panchayats and had a population of 2.5 lakh as per the 2011 Census, which has now increased to about 3 lakhs.

He said four assembly constituencies have been directly affected by the demand for the Scheduled Tribe status for Hatti community. These are Shillai, Paonta Sahib, Pachhad and Shri Renuka ji. He added that the representatives of these constituencies were also present with him during the press conference.

In 2009, for the first time, the BJP had made a promise in its manifesto to grant ST status to the Hatti community, he said and added that the state government had sent a proposal to the Centre long ago.

“We had raised this issue before then home minister Rajnath Singh also,” he said.

Thakur further expressed hope that the Centre will soon issue an ordinance or bring a bill during the monsoon session of Parliament to grant ST status to Hatti community.

The demand of the Hatti community is significant in view of the upcoming assembly elections in the state later this year.

Out of the four assembly seats where the Hatti community has political influence, two seats — Pachhad and Paonta Sahib — were won by the BJP, while the other two — Shri Renuka ji and Shillai — were won by the Congress.