Amidst all the conspiracies to change demography in Uttarakhand, following the violence in Haldwani, a case of illegal occupation of government lands has also surfaced in the popular tourist destination of Ramnagar. A list of over a thousand such families is in the possession of the forest department itself. Those people have started referring to the area by Islamic names in addition to preparing all the paperwork. Notably, the first step in the encroachment is to construct temporary homes for girls and women. However, as soon as the issue was brought to light, the administration took the initiative and began clearing out illegal incursions from some neighbourhoods.
Dainik Jagran has mentioned that the Puchhdi village of Ramnagar in one of its reports. There have been complaints of invasion of forest department properties by the people of the Muslim community who have settled here. The Forest Department has identified around 1002 such households who have seized the land. Using Rs 10 stamp papers, these families have pilfered land valued at crores of rupees.
They have also acquired basic facilities like electricity and water on the under-siege properties. The Fauji (Military/Army) Colony constructed in the revenue area is being called Rehmat Nagar by them. There are accusations that incursion has already begun in the surrounding regions of the 800 Bigha territories that were illicitly grabbed.
This Ramnagar area is believed to have been took over by people since 2004 or 2005. At that time, the majority of the population living there was Muslim which had immigrated from the Uttar Pradesh districts of Rampur and Moradabad. Later they started selling it to their co-religionist on stamp paper of 10 rupees each. Rows of wooden and tarpaulin houses can be witnessed at the location. Additionally, a place called Nai Basti is also under occupation. Originally, a few Muslim families came here to work as labourers with buggies but now they own trucks and dumpers.
The head of the village in Puchhdi hamlet is now a Muslim woman, indicating the drastic changes in the area’s demographics. The Forest Department went to the High Court to get rid of the illegal encroachments. The court’s ruling in 2017 resulted in the demolition of 36 illegal concrete constructions as well, but things quickly grew worse soon after.
The current state of affairs is that the total number of voters in this encroached area has crossed 3500. In an interview with Dainik Jagran, the former chief of Puchhdi village also mentioned that he had seen the demographic shift following 2005. Diwan Singh Bisht, a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA, has spoken out against the ongoing annexation of government land in Ramnagar. He blamed the Forest Department for the alarming situation while talking to the media house.
He advocated for a thorough screening process for those who have entered the area illegally and are living there. He expressed shock that a section of the Fauji Colony was given the name Rehmat Nagar and pledged to investigate and address the matter.
