MARGAO
Tribal leaders kicked off their awareness campaign against the State and Central governments for what they termed as denying them their Constitutional rights and political reservations for scheduled tribes in the Goa Legislative Assembly with a meeting in Sanguem segment of the South Goa Lok Sabha constituency.
While calling off their hunger strike agitation at the Azad Maidan, Panaji on March 10, the tribal leaders had vowed to hold awareness meetings across the villages to make the ST community aware of their rights. In another resolution, the tribal leaders had further vowed to do whatever possible to make electoral damage to the BJP for both North Goa and South Goa seat in the forthcoming Parliamentary elections.
Addressing the meetings at Kaju-Goto, and Curpem, both in Sanguem, tribal leader Rama Kankonkar raised concerns over the 3,000-plus pending ST backlog vacancies to be filled in various government departments, over 9,500 individual forest rights claims and over 125 community forest right claims pending to be settled, pendency of the scheduled areas (tribal areas) to be notified as per the Vth Schedule of the Constitution, non-functioning of Tribes Advisory Council and improper allotment and non-utilisation of Tribal Sub Plan funds.
“Of the total annual budget, the government should allot and spend at least Rs 2,500 cr for the development of tribals ever year. However, only Rs 200-250 crore are spent annually. Out of these funds, some are even diverted to non-ST areas or for other projects which do not benefit tribals,” Kankonkar said.
Another tribal leader Rupesh Velip said the government in Goa and at the Centre has cheated the tribal communities by promising to bring a Bill and not an Ordinance as part of an election propaganda.
