PANAJI
Leaders of Goa’s scheduled tribe (ST) communities on Thursday accused the State government of having no will to ensure reservations for their communities at the political level.
GAKUVED, an umbrella organisation of Scheduled Tribes in Goa, recently visited Delhi and submitted to the Election Commission of India a memorandum demanding reservation for STs in assembly elections.
“When our delegation met the Centre’s representative, they said that the Goa government has not sent any proposal regarding reservations,” GAKUVED general secretary Rupesh Velip said and accused the State government of having no will to ensure STs get the
quota.
The GAKUVED team which went to Delhi, also submitted representations to the offices of the President, Draupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides Union Law Minister and to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
Velip said since appointments were not confirmed, the delegation could not personally meet any of them but will do so very soon after securing confirmed appointments from their offices.
Velip said, the demand for a quota for scheduled tribes in the Goa legislative assembly is a “genuine demand” provided by the Constitution of India.
“Now the ball is in the court of the Goa Government,” Velip said and demanded that the State send a detailed proposal to the Centre for an ST quota in the Goa Legislatve Assembly, before the commencement of the upcoming Parliament session from March 13.
