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How Uttarakhand’s pretty hill hamlets with blue skies & rolling greens became ghost villages

Distress migration a major issue in poll-bound Uttarakhand. The state came into existence in 2000 after it was carved out of UP with the objective of equitable growth of the hills.

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Tehri Garhwal: Creepers wriggling out of the cracks in umpteen empty houses on the verge of collapse, dust and debris on the streets, and unkempt courtyards Gangar is one of the many “bhootiyan (ghost)” villages that are ubiquitous in Uttarakhand’s hilly Tehri Garhwal district.

Despite the bonny blue skies and picturesque valley, this village, which once bustled with life, is more of a fading memory now, with its residents moving to bigger towns and cities in search of “a better life”. 

When ThePrint visited the village on 5 February, it found children playing in the empty houses as a few villagers gathered at a temple to offer prayers. This temple is now the only ‘living’ building in use in Gangar as most of its residents have shifted to the nearby Badhri village in the Ghansali assembly constituency. The reason? Better road connectivity, healthcare and employment opportunities. 

A view of the picturesque valley from Gangwar village | ThePrint photo by Suraj Singh Bisht
A view of the picturesque valley from Gangar village | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Distress migration is one of the major issues in poll-bound Uttarakhand. The state came into existence in 2000 after it was carved out of Uttar Pradesh with the objective of equitable growth of the hills.

In the election mayhem, the voices of the local people, who have been raising this issue, seem to have been lost.

While Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami claimed his government is already working on addressing the issue of distress migration, and Congress called it a “major goal” if the party returns to power, local residents ThePrint spoke to said political leaders are indulging in mere lip-service while much work remains to be done. 

Stressing the fact that they moved out of compulsion and not by choice, many residents of Gangar and nearby areas believe that if the government pulls up its socks to improve living conditions in these abandoned villages, this distressed migration can be stopped, and those who left may even come back.


Also Read: So many ex-CMs, so little campaigning: BJP’s old guard is missing in action in Uttarakhand


‘Migration an emotive issue for Uttarakhand’

In September 2017, the erstwhile Trivendra Singh Rawat government had formed a Palayan Aayog (migration commission) to study migration in the state over the preceding 10 years. 

In a 2018 survey, the commission pointed out that 734 more villages in the state have become uninhabited since 2011, and are often referred to as ‘ghost villages’.  

According to Anoop Nautiyal, social worker and founder of the Dehradun-based Social Development for Communities (SDC) Foundation, the number of ‘ghost villages’ in the state had stood at 1,034 till 2011.

“Migration is an emotive issue for Uttarakhand. Successive governments have come and gone and will come and go, but no one has managed to catch the bull by the horns,” said Nautiyal.

According to him, on average, 138 people migrate from Uttarakhand every day. “There are two categories of migrants semi-migrants, who are still connected with their roots, and permanent migrants,” he told ThePrint.

Poor healthcare & education, unemployment

According to Sunil Semwal, the pradhan (head) of Gangar village, lack of employment opportunities, healthcare and education forced the people to shift elsewhere. 

“Unemployment and poor healthcare are the two main reasons behind people’s decision to migrate. They did not do it happily, but were forced by these circumstances. Hospitals were very far away, there were no schools in the vicinity, and then there is the problem of wild animals,” Semwal told ThePrint.

Semwal claimed that public representatives had paid no attention to Gangar, and all government schemes were only on paper. “People are migrating to bigger cities in search of jobs and better facilities. People are shifting there even for a job that gives them Rs 10,000-15,000 per month. Not a single person lives in this village. Most have shifted to Badhri village,” he added. 

A desolate road in Gangwar village | ThePrint photo by Suraj Singh Bisht
A desolate road in Gangar village | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

However, Semwal believes that the government can still make efforts to stop migration. “Right from growing malta (a type of orange) and guava, so many opportunities can be created here for the locals. A group of people has started a gaushala, which is providing job opportunities to a few people. So, if the government really is serious about it, migration can be stopped,” he said.

Life in these ghost villages has been so tough that the ailing and elderly have to be carried on cots or wooden chairs till the main road.

“Our old house is here (in Gangar village). We shifted closer to the main town as there was no connectivity and, during health emergencies, we used to face a lot of problems. The road you see today came a few years ago. If the government provides all facilities, then even those who have shifted would come back,” said Shubhankar Juyal, who shifted from Gangar to another village in Ghansali.  

From Gangar village, the nearest government hospital is around 7-8 kilometres away, and there is a private hospital around 5-6 kilometres from the village. “From my new house, it is only a kilometre away, so it is easy to go from there. From Gangar, people have died even before reaching the hospital,” said Shubhankar.

Prithvi Dhar Joshi, 65, a former resident of Gangar village, said he was forced to migrate as his family members had to be transported in a wooden chair to reach the hospital in the absence of a proper road and primary healthcare facility. 

“We also shifted because even basic facilities were not available. This road that you see today was not there when we used to live here. During a health emergency, we had to literally carry people on a charpoy,” he said. 

At Nauli village in the same district, the problems are the same. ThePrint met Aditya Narayan Joshi, the village head, who now stays in Chiniyal village. “One of the major reasons behind migration is poor healthcare. In the field of education also, we are quite backward. We also don’t have good road connectivity and infrastructure. In some parts, we don’t even have roads, so travelling becomes a task,” he said. 

“In case someone falls sick or a pregnant woman has to deliver, we carry them on dandi kandi (a string cot carried by four people) to get them to the main road and rush them to the hospital,” he added. 

A woman carrying branches trudges up a steep road in Gangwar village in in Ghansali assembly constituency | ThePrint photo by Suraj Singh Bisht
A woman carrying branches trudges up a steep road in Gangar village in Ghansali assembly constituency | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

However, Aditya believes that if youth have jobs, health and education, they would not want to go to cities or outside the country and “face adversaries”.

Seema Bisht, who also shifted from Gangar, said women there faced a lot of problems, especially during pregnancy: “There’s always this risk of not reaching the hospital in time. The roads are so steep.” 

A major poll issue

With the 14 February assembly elections now days away, migration of people from the hilly region has become a major point of discussion in the state. In an interview with ThePrint last week, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami accepted that it is an issue that needs to be addressed,  

Dhami said the government is “already working on” providing basic infrastructure and services in the hilly region.

“Those hospitals where there were no doctors have increased their strength by three times. We have also started the process of opening primary health centres. Migration is a major issue and we have been working on this. Our government made a migration commission,” he added.

“Migration will only stop when those who stay in hilly areas, in far-flung areas, find employment and jobs near their homes. If not employment, then they should get opportunities to run their own businesses. For this, we have asked the departments to make a 10-year plan and give suggestions. We will move forward in that direction and migration will definitely stop,” Dhami further said.

Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) vice-president Prithvipal Chauhan told ThePrint that checking migration will be a “major goal” for the Congress if it comes to power.

“Migration has been a nagging issue for the state. We have to provide adequate services like health, means of employment and basic infrastructure. Several schemes aimed at checking migration were launched by the former Congress government led by Harish Rawat from 2014 to 2017. However, these schemes have been ignored by the BJP government after they came to power in 2017. If Congress returns, our government will revive its earlier schemes and hammer out new programmes to check migration from the state,” he added.

However, SDV founder Anoop Nautiyal claimed that “politically, our hills are getting weakened”. 

“I say this because in the 2002 and 2007 elections, there were 40 seats in nine hilly districts. After delimitation, this came down to 34, while in the plains, this number increased to 36. If you see the participation of women, then out of 70 seats (Uttarakhand assembly total), women voted in a larger number in 37 seats. Out of the 34 seats in the hilly districts, in 33, women voted more than men. Why? Because men don’t happen to be in those districts! They have migrated in search of better opportunities,” he added.

(Edited by Gitanjali Das)


Also Read: Modi, Kedarnath, Ganga arti — what BJP’s campaign push in Uttarakhand says about its message


 

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