Gajendra Singh Negi | Dehradun
Cascading conflict
The decision of chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to remove the divisional forest officer of Pauri amid spurt in the cases of human-wildlife conflict cases in the mountainous areas of the State is an appreciable albeit delayed step in the direction of fixing responsibilities of the officials in such cases. Forest department which holds sway over 65 per cent of the land area of Uttarakhand needs to be more sensitive, prompt and pro-active to reduce the conflict between the wildlife and humans in the State. The senior officers of the department should ensure that the mandatory patrolling by its personnel should be done on the ground and not on paper. Apart from intensifying vigil, the department should work in sync with the district administrations in undertaking a massive campaign about the measures the villagers should take to reduce the conflict. Continued migration coupled with increasing disenchantment of the people with agriculture has converted farm land into a jungle bringing the wild animals to the doorstep of people in villages. The government is advised to include the work of clearing bushes from the fields around the villages under MNREGA which will help in providing livelihood, firewood and protection from wild animals.
Rawats’ rapprochement
The ice in the relationship between Congress stalwart Harish Rawat and mercurial Harak Singh Rawat appears to be thawing due to political compulsions in Uttarakhand and altered power balance in the State unit of the party. Ignoring the Ujjyadu baldh (the ox habituated to barge into grain fields) barb thrown repeatedly at him by senior Rawat in the past for his role played in the infamous 2016 mutiny in Congress, Harak Singh attended Harish Rawat’s Malta party last week from which former PCC chiefs Pritam Singh and Karan Mahara were conspicuous by their absence. The senior Rawat was quick to return the compliment when Harak got embroiled in an unintentional yet unsavoury controversy involving his comment on the Sikh community as he quickly sought apology on Harak’s behalf and visited a local Gurudwara to undertake Kar Sewa as a repentance for the sin committed. The Congress party workers are hoping that the two mighty leaders now seemingly inclined to bury the hatchet will prove beneficial for the party in the crucial Assembly elections slated in early 2027.
In limbo
The suspense over the long-pending expansion of Pushkar Singh Dhami cabinet is continuing in the Himalayan State. Ever since the powerful Prem Chand Agarwal was unceremoniously removed from the council of ministers following a huge uproar over the abusive language used by him on the floor of assembly in March this year, the talks of expansion of Dhami cabinet have surfaced at regular intervals. In the hope of finding a berth in the cabinet where as many as five positions are up for grabs, some of the aspiring MLAs can be seen shuttling between Delhi and Dehradun to humour the senior leaders. The president of the State BJP, Mahendra Bhatt too gives a fillip to the talk of cabinet expansion with his occasional comment which often turns out to be a faux pas for him. It appears that the BJP’s central leadership has decided to adopt a wait-and-watch policy on the expansion of the Uttarakhand cabinet by keeping the issue to hang fire. With the Assembly elections not far away, many hopefuls seem to have lost interest in the elusive cabinet berth and are focusing on their constituencies instead.
