National Green Tribunal schedules hearing in Shimla on May 29 Backed by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), tribals, including NGOs and hoteliers, have approached the National Green Tribunal (NGT) seeking a complete exemption from “permits” to cross the 13,050 foot-high Rohtang Pass for people of Lahaul-Spiti, Pangi, Leh and Ladakh. The NGT has fixed the date of hearing at its circuit Bench in Shimla on May 29. “Asking people to get permits to cross the Rohtang Pass while coming from and going back home is the denial of a fundamental right and violation of basic human rights for tribals, who have been using it for over 1,000 years as a traditional route,” asserted Ravi Thakur, vice-chairperson, NCST, who is also a Congress legislator from Lahaul-Spiti. “We have taken up the matter with the state government, which has requested the NGT to give a complete exemption to people from permits to cross the Rohtang Pass,” he added. Residents said the permit-based entry from Manali barriers had sparked protest and anger in the entire tribal belt as a “permit raj” would result in the feeling of alienation among people living along the sensitive China border. “Nowhere in the country or the world do people require a permit to go to their homeland. We should not be punished for being born on the other side of the Rohtang Pass,” said CM Parshira, convener, Lahaul-Spiti Janjatiya Kalyan Samiti (LSJKS), which has sought exemption from the NGT in its petition filed on April 24. “As many as 87.3 per cent of the vehicles at the Rohtang Pass are tourist vehicles, eight per cent are those of the Army and the BRO, while only 4.5 per cent of the vehicles consist of people from Lahaul-Spiti. Secondly, none of the locals stop at Rohtang and indulge in tourism-related activities there as we consider the Rohtang Pass as a heap of dead corpses as many people have perished there while crossing the pass in the distant past,” Parshira added. There are no carbon footprints left by people there as the tribal belt remains cut off for six winter months due to snow, Parshira said. “There are just two petrol pumps, that too, 112 km apart in Lahaul-Spiti and nowhere in the country do people go that far for a refill,” he added. “Locals have to transport peas and potatoes across the Rohtang Pass in summer and enterprising youth have set up guest houses for tourists and permits will hit the inflow here,” said Tashi Deleg, president, of the Lahaul-Spiti Hoteliers’ Association. Himal Thakur, a resident of Sissu, said, “If the state government cannot give us justice, we will seek intervention of the Supreme Court and people will have to resort to agitation,” he added. To comply with the NGT order, the Kullu district administration has set up barriers on the way to Rohtnag Pass to restrict the flow of tourist traffic. Even residents of nine villages in the upper reaches of Manali and the hoteliers’ association of Manali have opposed the system of entry passes for them and setting up of a barrier at Vashisht. Lahaul-Spiti Deputy Commissioner BS Thakur said they had sought exemption from permits for people of Lahaul- Spiti by taking up the issue with the government. He said they were awaiting NGT’s order on May 29.