As per the interim report of the Village Development and Migration Commission constituted by the Trivendra Singh Rawat Government, which has been submitted in the presence of the Chief Minister in Dehradun on Saturday, the Pauri district in Garhwal division is bearing the maximum brunt of the exodus, a district which has begot a galaxy of stalwarts who have gained eminence not just in the State but at the national level.
Significantly enough, both, the chairman of the commission, Trivendra Singh Rawat who is also the Chief Minister of the State and its deputy chairman S S Negi hail from Pauri. The interim report reveals that the district tops the list of the ‘ghost’ villages, shorn of population, with 186 out of the total 734 such villages being located in it. The exodus spree has been continuing unabated since 2011, emptying village after village with the people migrating in search of the minimum facilities which have remained elusive. Bageshwar with 77 such villages is a distant second while Pithoragarth has 75 ‘ghost’ villages. Rikhnikhal block of Pauri has 29 uninhabited villages while Pauri and Pokhra blocks have 27 and nine such villages respectively. Thalisain and Yamkeshwar blocks have eight ‘ghost’ villages while Jaiharikhal block has two. Not surprisingly, Pauri along with Almora is the only district which has registered negative growth in population in the 2011 census.
The report of the commission reveals that a staggering 25,584 persons from Pauri have permanently migrated over the past ten years which accounts for over 20 percent of those who have permanently migrated from the state. In comparison, 16207 persons from Almora district, another migration affected one, have permanently migrated from their homes. What is more 47,488 persons have temporally migrated from the Pauri district over the past ten years. The report suggests that 52.58 percent of those who have migrated from the district has cited lack of livelihood options as the principal trigger of the mass exodus. Similarly, 15.78 percent and 11.26 percent of such people have cited lack of educational and health facilities as the principal reason behind the migration respectively.
Ironically, Pauri district has produced the maximum number of chief ministers who have ruled the Himalayan state since it was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000. Trivendra Singh Rawat is the fourth CM preceded by Major General B C Khanduri (Rtd), Ramesh Pokhariyal ‘Nishank’ and Vijay Bahuguna. Besides, two CMs of neighbouirng Uttar Pradesh –the legendary Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna and the present one Mahant Aditya Nath- are from the same district.