The committee headed by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna will also suggest ways for bringing the nomadic tribe of Gujjars into the mainstream of the society.
The committee, which will have Secretary Forest and Secretaries of other concerned Departments, as its members, will study various issues related to Van Gujjars like rehabilitation, education and health and submit its report to the Chief Minister within the next two months, the CM said last evening.
The CM said his government also intends to formulate a separate policy for development of backward Van Gujjar tribe.
The state government would also pursue with the Centre the issue of providing the Van Gujjars the status of Scheduled Tribe (ST).
The Van Gujjar, a muslim nomadic tribe, are currently enjoying status of OBC in the state.
Van Gujjars identified in 2006 census would be provided all basic facilities, Bahuguna said.
Assuring the tribe that he would personally visit their homes to take stock of the situation, Bahuguna directed the officials to provide BPL Cards to the eligible families and ensure that there is no problem to the Gujjar students in pursuing education.
