In Uttarakhand babus have their way

Dehradun : The ‘babudom’ in Uttarakhand is a world in itself and as their writ runs large they feel they have the complete freedom to do what they want to and make or break rules or for that matter law as per their convenience.

Take the example of Rishikesh tehsil of this district where the babus classified ‘kolis’ as members of the scheduled caste, though they are not in the category. This was reportedly done by them deliberately to prevent some members of the community from selling their land.

Though officials of the teshil when contacted admitted that ‘kolis’ are not scheduled caste as per the state records, but could not give reasons why members of the community were not being allowed to sell their land, though some members of the community wirth the right connections were allowed to do so in Rishikesh tehsil itself.

How come there are two set of rules in one teshil baffles, but then the babus have their won ways of interpreting things depending upon which course of action they want to take.

And surprisingly when a member of the community contacted officials of the tehsil saying that he wanted to sell his land, a case was registered against the official stating that being a scheduled caste, he was trying to sell his land to general category people.

Jagdish Bhatt

A journalist with over 40 years of experience, Jagdish Bhatt was Editor, Hill Post (Uttarakhand).

Jagdish had worked with India’s leading English dailies, which include Times of India, Indian Express, Pioneer and several other reputed publications. A highly acclaimed journalist, he was a recipient of many awards

Jagdish Bhatt, aged 72, breathed his last on 28th August 2021 at his Dehradun residence.