Several Women Missing from the Salt Area of Uttarakhand State in India: UKPP calls on the Government to Stop Human Trafficking

Dehradun, Uttarakhand, March 7, 2016

The Uttarakhand Parivartan Party or UKPP is going to hold a Candle March in the city of Dehradun (Ghantaghar–Gandhi Park–Ghantaghar) on the eve of the International Women’s Day to draw public-attention towards the increasing incidents of human trafficking and women’s exploitation in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand in India.

As the world is gearing up to celebrate the International Women’s Day on 8 March, the Salt area in the district of Almora in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, India has witnessed several women missing from their houses.

It is suspected that the women have either been abducted for nefarious purposes or trafficked for sex-slavery/prostitution. More than a dozen women have been reported missing over a short period of time.

The UKPP President, PC Tewari, UKPP women network co-convener Rekha Dhasmana women network member Anandi Manral has expressed concern over the incidents of human trafficking in the state and has called upon the state government to bring in a sense of law and order in the state and ensure security of the women in particular.
It is to be noted that over the years the movement of unknown outsiders have increased in the tranquil Himalayan State and the law and order situation has worsened due to such movements.

The Uttarakhand Parivartan Party (UKPP) has written to the District Magistrate to look into the matter and investigate the whole thing so that such incidents did not take place any more.

The UKPP has suggested forming police teams to search for the missing women. The party has also called upon the state government to ensure safety of the mountain women in particular as they have to traverse several miles every day to fetch water, fodder for the cattle and fuel-wood from the forest areas. The Uttarakhand state is a region where the women are the backbone of the local economy. The mountain women were the ones who played a key role in the creation of the Uttarakhand state in the year 2000.

The UKPP is talking with several like-minded organisations to chalk out a strategy for ensuring socio-economic security and creating a larger political space for the women of the state.

Co-Authors:

Suresh Nautiyal, 글로벌 그린 코디네이션 member