Give due benefits of ST status to Gujjars, Bakerwals: Hakla

Excelsior Correspondent
POONCH, Dec 9: Expressing concern over failure of the State Government in giving due benefits to the Gujjars and Bakerwals in the State under the Schedule Tribe category which was granted to them way back in 1991 by the Union Government, prominent Gujjar leader and intellectual Shamsher Hakla Poonchi has sought immediate intervention of Prime Minister, Narendera Modi in this regard.
In a statement issued here today, Hakla said that Gujjars and Bakerwals who are patriots by core and whose service to the national cause is in no way less than any other patriotic community in the country have been neglected for years together by the successive State Governments.
He said it is pity that the community has been deprived of due benefits under the ST status it deserves and he strongly advocated for granting of political reservations to the community as has been given to other weaker sections of the society.
Making a scathing attack on State Government, Hakla said that successive State Governments have deliberately creating an obstruction in the development and upliftment of this backward community in the State.