Uttarakhand polls: Nainital's Bindukhatta deprived of revenue village status for 40 years

Deprived of revenue village status for the last 40 years, locals in Uttarakhand's Bindukhatta village, with a population of around 70 to 80 thousand are still dispossessed of legal ownership of their house and land.

Jodh Singh Bisht, who has retired from the Indian Army and is a resident of Bindukhatta village said, "The BJP and Congress parties in power have worked towards the upliftment of the village but could not facilitate the legal ownership of our land and house to us."

Bisht said, "For the last 40 years, people made their houses and settled in the Bindukhatta village. All the political parties promised that the village will get a revenue village status but till now it has not got it. Due to this villagers are deprived of facilities like bank loans including many government schemes."

Bisht further added, Bindukhatta village is a reserved forest area and people from most of the hilly districts of Kumaon and Garhwal of Uttarakhand who got affected by natural disasters settled in the Bindukhatta village being situated on flat land.

Bisht said, "Most of the people settled in Bindukhatta village are either affected by the disaster or are landless. Road, electricity, water, hospital and school facility is available in the village."

Another resident Darshan Giri Goswami said, "It has been more than four decades and most of the families in the village are working or retired Indian Army families. Despite this, the village has not been able to get the status of revenue village. People find it difficult to take bank loans for their livelihood, business, business, and other things."

Uttarakhand's Bindukhatta village under the Lalkuan assembly constituency has a population of 70 to 80 thousand while the valid voters are around 35,000 only. This is because, as per government law, this village is not valid as it is situated on forest land and as a result not considered a revenue village.

Diwan Singh, Darshan Giri Goswami and Jodh Singh Bisht are very excited about tomorrow's state election. He has lived in Bindukhatta village under the Lalkuan assembly constituency since 1979 and still is deprived of legal ownership of his property.

Election for 70 assembly seats in Uttarakhand is scheduled for tomorrow.

( With inputs from ANI )

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