Village is one of several in Pernem constituency
PANAJI
Even as Goa's tribal communities have upped the ante to seek political reservation for the Schedule Tribes in the Goa legislative assembly, at the Gram Sabha held on Sunday in Dhargalim, villagers demanded and resolved that the Pernem assembly constituency should no longer be reserved for scheduled castes.
The resolution seeking that the Pernem constituency be dereserved was passed unanimously at Sunday's gram sabha, even though it may not be as simple a task to get the constituency de-reserved with merely passing a resolution at a gram sabha of one of the several villages the constituency covers.
Before Goa became a State in 1987, the Pernem taluka had two constituencies -- Mandrem and Dhargalim --- of which Dhargalim was reserved for the Schedule Caste community in the elections held between 1977 to 1989 for the 30-member legislative assembly of the Goa, Daman and Diu union territory.
It comprised the villages of Dhargalim, Nagzar, Warkhand, Ugwe, Tambose, Mopa, Torsem, Patradevi, Ozari, Kasarvarne, Halarna, Talarna, Khutwal, Hasapur, Chandel, Hali, Hankhane and Ibrampur.
Later, on attaining Statehood and Goa getting an Assembly with 40 seats, Pernem got three constituencies -- Dhargalim, Pernem and Mandrem.
Again, Dhargalim was reserved for Scheduled Caste community in the elections held between 1989 to 2007.
Subsequently, in the Delimitation exercise, Pernem taluka again was reduced to two seats, with Dhargalim cancelled and Mandrem and Pernem was retained with the latter again reserved for Scheduled Caste community. All the villages of the erstwhile Dhargalim constituency were retained in the new Pernem constituency and the additional villages of Korgao, part of Virnoda, and Khajne-Amere-Porskade panchayat were also included.
Thus, even though the constituencies were reorganized since 1977, the villages of Dhargal, Nagjhar, Warkhand, Ugwe, Tambose, Mopa, Torse, Patradevi, Ozri, Kasarvarne, Halrna, Talrna, Khutwal, Hasapur, Chandel and Hali were always retained in the constituecy reserved for scheduled caste community.
