Nahan, Aug 14 (PTI) People of the Hattee community in the Trans-Giri area of Himachal Pradesh have expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for accepting their 55-year-old demand for Scheduled Tribe status.

Community members on Sunday organised “thanksgiving” meetings in about 400 villages. The village leaders educated the community members regarding the benefits of tribal status and cautioned them against the designs of divisive forces.

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President Droupadi Murmu on August 5 gave ascent to the (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Third Amendment) Bill 2022, according to the Scheduled Tribe status to the Hattee community.

The tribal status for the community was approved by the Union Cabinet on September 14, 2022. The bill to provide ST status to the community was passed by the Lok Sabha on December 16, 2022, and the Rajya Sabha on July 26, 2023.

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About 3 lakh people of 154 panchayats, constituting over 400 villages have benefitted from tribal status and villagers participated in the meetings in huge numbers, a community leader said.

"The enthusiasm of the people, especially the women and the youth was unprecedented as their peaceful agitation spanning over five decades ended in acceptance of the demand," said Amin Chand Kamal, president of Central Hattee Samiti said on Monday.

A budget of Rs 900 crore would be allocated for the development of the area after granting of tribal status, community leaders said.

The villagers also collected signatures thanking Modi which would be sent to the Prime Minister's Office online, they said.

A delegation of Hattee Samiti would also meet the leader of the opposition in the state Assembly and former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur to apprise him of the success of the thanksgiving campaign, they added. PTI/COR/BPL

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)