Typo fixed after 13 yrs: Respite for 44 villages

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 20

Over one lakh residents of 44 backward villages of Udhampur district have been at the receiving end as the successive state governments took 13 years to rectify minor typing errors, which denied them reservation and other benefits.

The typing errors were finally rectified on February 9.

Highly placed sources said the typing errors were rectified when Ramnagar MLA RS Pathania raised the issue in the Assembly in the first week of February and the minister concerned assured the House that the typing mistake would be rectified in a day or two.

The names of 44 villages of the Ramnagar and Majalta tehsils of Udhampur as recorded in SRO-37 of April 28, 1970, had been wrongly spelt in SRO-294 of October 21, 2005. As a result, over one lakh villagers were denied the Resident of Backward Area certificates.

“It is unfortunate that the authorities took 13 long years to rectify the spelling mistakes. Due to the callous attitude, residents of 44 most-backward villages of Udhampur district were denied their constitutional rights,” said Pathania.

He said the poor villagers were struggling to get the mistake rectified since 2005 when the names of the villages were spelt wrongly in the Revenue Department records.

Pathania said that on behalf of the residents of the villages, a detailed memorandum was submitted to the then Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur, in 2007 but even after 10 years, no corrective measures were taken.

The Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur, had forwarded a detailed fact-finding report to the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, in 2009 in which it was clearly mentioned that due to the typing error, the residents of 44 villages of Udhampur were facing a lot of hardships.

Under Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Sayeed Nazir Ahmed, issued an errata on February 9, admitting that the Udhampur DC vide a letter in 2010 had stated that due to a ‘miss-spelling/typographical error, residents of 44 villages were facing hardships.

Over 1 lakh residents affected 

• The names of 44 villages of the Ramnagar and Majalta tehsils of Udhampur district had been wrongly been spelt in SRO-294 of October 21, 2005. As a result, over one lakh villagers were denied the Resident of Backward Area certificates
• The typing errors were rectified when Ramnagar MLA RS Pathania raised the issue in the Assembly in the first week of February