MAPUSA
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday said his government has the interest of Scheduled Tribe (ST) community and will try to reserve assembly constituencies for the ST before the next assembly elections in the State which are due in 2027.
Sawant also said the Director of Tribal Welfare has sent a proposal for ST reservation of seats in four assembly constituencies in the State.
“We are very clear that the ST community should get reservation in the State. We don’t want any injustice to be done to the community. We will make all efforts to ensure the ST gets representation by 2027 assembly elections,” Sawant said.
Raising the issue during the Question Hour, Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas sought details on the status report sent by the Director of Tribal Welfare and whether the government was intending to reserve seats for ST.
Viegas said for the last 20 years Goa has only one seat reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) while the ST community has got no such representation.
The Chief Minister informed that the government had written to the Election Commission for readjustment of SC/ST seats.
“The existing status of Assembly as delimited by the then Delimitation Commission cannot be changed till the next delimitation exercise which is due to be taken up after 2026 as mandated under the Constitution of India read with provision of Delimitation Act 2002,” Sawant said.
He further informed that as per the Population Census 2011, out of 40 Assembly Constituencies, four constituencies were proposed to be reserved for ST communities and one for SC Community.
The Director of Tribal Welfare had identified Mayem, Sangem, Priol and Quepem as the four constituencies to be reserved for ST.
The CM informed that a thorough study needs to be done and seats will have to be reserved depending on the concentration of the people belonging to ST in the area.
“In Mayem, only one ward has people belonging to ST. It won’t be fair to reserve the seat for ST,” he said.
He said his government was aware of the concerns of the ST community and will do everything possible to ensure the reservation for ST before the next assembly polls.
