Villagers of Bagjala in Haldwani have been sitting on an indefinite dharna for the past 82 days at the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) office, demanding resumption of halted road repair and other essential development works. Bagjala movement is ongoing under the banner of the All India Kisan Mahasabha (AIKM).
Despite the Public Works Department having sanctioned Rs 13.31 lakh for road repair under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Forest Department has refused to grant permission for the work, citing procedural hurdles. Villagers say this has become a pattern, with the department blocking all construction and repair works in the area.
Addressing the protest, AIKM State President Anand Singh Negi said that the BJP government has been working to hand over land to corporate interests while depriving local residents of their rights. “The government talks of development, but in reality, it is building land banks for corporations and pushing ordinary people off their land,” he said.
AIKM leaders Bahadur Singh Jangi and District President Bhuvan Joshi warned that the government’s apathy could turn the long-running dharna into a larger people’s movement. They said that Bagjala’s villagers have been denied land rights, basic amenities, and now even the right to repair their own roads.
Dr. Urmila Rainswal, president of the AIKM Bagjala Committee, said that the administration has ignored the villagers’ protest for nearly three months. “The same road that was dug up for the Jal Jeevan Mission has been left unrepaired, and now the Forest Department is blocking the sanctioned repair work. This injustice cannot continue,” she said.
The protestors have warned that if the Forest Department does not immediately allow the road work to proceed, they will shift their indefinite dharna to the department’s office premises itself.
The Bagjala movement reflects the growing anger among rural and working-class communities in Uttarakhand against corporate land grab, administrative indifference, and denial of basic infrastructure.
