Poll list revision shows exodus continues from Uttarakhand hills

DEHRADUN: Despite the Uttarakhand government’s efforts, migration from the hill districts towards the plains and to other states continues. The latest revision in the voters’ list points to this disturbing trend.

Of the total 29,050 new voters included in the electoral rolls in the state, 24,414, or about 84 per cent, are in the plains.

Sowjanya, Chief Electoral Officer of Uttarakhand, said, “More than 84 per cent new voters are from Haridwar, Udhamsingh Nagar, Dehradun and Nainital districts.” 

Shekhar Pathak, a Padma Shri awardee activist, said, “The data is indicative of the fact that migration from the nine hill districts of Uttarakhand has not stopped."

"More efforts are needed to check migration from our hills.”

Among the nine hill districts, except for Almora, the number of voters did not reach four digits in any of the districts while it was only 49 in Rudraprayag.

The data by State Rural Development and Migration Commission, set up by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, points out a positive growth rate in the population of districts in the plains such as Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital and Haridwar while in the mountain districts like Pauri, Almora, Tehri, Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Pithoragarh, there has been a decline.

The data, released in 2018, also points out that over 3.83 lakh people left their homes during 2007-17. Around 50% of them left in search of livelihood.

Uttarakhand has around 16,500 villages, of which 734 have become ‘ghost villages’ with zero population.