No community asked to leave Chamoli Admin

Gopeshwar, 21 Oct (PTI) Uttarakhand's Chamoli district administration on Monday said the reports of a community being asked to leave Khansar valley before December 31 by the Vyapar Mandal are false.
     In a statement issued, Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari said that the president of the Vyapar Mandal had clarified that he had taken out a public awareness rally to get the administration to verify the outsiders who were setting up stalls in the Gairsain area.
     "Its objective was to ensure that no untoward incident or law and order problem takes place in the area," the statement read.
     Tiwari said that the situation in the area is cordial and there is no tension of any kind.
     In a meeting called on Wednesday last week to discuss the increasing criminal activities in the district, the Vyapar Mandal and local of Maithan had allegedly warned the people of a particular community living there to leave the area by December 31, failing which they and their house owners would be fined.
     People from other villages of Khansar valley also attended this meeting.
     Maithan Vyapar Mandal President Baldev Singh Negi had allegedly said that for some time now, criminal incidents, especially related to women, are increasing in the entire district and the involvement of people of a particular community is being seen in them.
     Negi had allegedly said, "We held a meeting on this issue and unanimously passed two resolutions. First, people of other communities living here were given time till 31 December to leave the area and second, people coming to the area in the name of the ferry were banned from staying here after 31 December."
    He had allegedly said that this decision was taken in view of the incident in Nandanagar and then Gauchar in Chamoli district and the increasing number of hawkers and people of other communities coming to Khansar Valley without verification in recent times.
     However, all these alleged statements are said to be false, a press release from the Chamoli district administration said on Monday.
     Maithan, a remote village in Gairsain tehsil of Chamoli district bordering Almora district, is located in the Ramganga valley on the road going to Bachhuwabar from Karnaprayag-Nainital National Highway.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)