The Himachal Pradesh cabinet in a recent meeting has approved the project to rehabilitate Tibetan families living in shacks to permanent houses by Shimla authorities. According to the local reports, 71 Tibetan refugee families will be shifted and rehabilitated from Sanjauli to Maliana or Mehli area under the Prime Minister Awas Yojna.
After the construction of Tantia Parking Complex at Sanjauli in Shimla, many Tibetan refugees were displaced. They have been living in temporary set ups in the form of shacks near the complex since then. After the Tibetans moved the High court, it was directed to the state authorities and the Shimla Municipal Corporation to rehabilitate those displaced.
“As many as 71 Tibetan families who live in shacks behind the Tantia parking complex at Sanjauli would be shifted and rehabilitated at Maliana or Mehli area under the Prime Minister Awas Yojna.” said the report by The Tribune recently, after the state cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur approved the this rehabilitation proposal by the Shimla municipal corporation.
SMC commissioner Pankaj Rai said the Tibetan families had given in writing that they were willing to be shifted to Maliana or other suitable place where the land was available, according to the report. “The proposal is in preliminary stage. We have proposed to re-settle them under the PM Awas Yojna,” he added.
Shimla Mayor Satya Kaundal said the corporation would resettle them in pucca (permanent) houses once the housing project is finalised.
The Tibetan refugees were allotted camping space in Sanjauli, upper Dhalli and Panthaghati in the capital city when they, along with their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled Tibet in 1959 and subsequently thereafter. They had earlier lamented that the parking complex had displaced them and they faced danger during rains and snow as the tents were unsafe to live in, added the report.
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