HERALD: How will you cope up with the pendency in tribal welfare?
GAUDE: There were many pending demands which are yet to be fulfilled; first one is the political reservation which is in the court of union government. Second one is the Tribal Forest Act, work of which is under pipeline and I had given instructions to all the authorities, collectors, BDOs, joint mamlatdars, foreign exchange officers. A couple of days back I had conducted a meeting in the South Collectorate building and I had given a sated line within Dec 2017, the Tribal Tendency Act should come in force and should be totally implemented.
There are so many existing schemes and people are benefiting from these. But there are some hurdles in various schemes that I want to streamline. This work is also in progress.
We have also introduced ‘Mathrutva Scheme’ which is beneficial for married couples who are married for last 3 years and are facing problems to bear a child and cannot afford the treatment. They can get a support of minimum of Rs 4 lakh through this scheme. We have also empanelled 7 to 8 hospitals across the state. They can avail those facilities in these hospitals. We are also going to empanel this scheme to more 4 to 5 hospitals if we get any suggestions from the doctors or even the couples.
I am focussing on the post-matric scholarships; there are little tendencies left due to technical problems as there is lack of awareness. This is because people are not aware about the existing schemes. So I have decided to go to that extent and reach out to people even in the rural areas along with my team or to engage NGOs who always work for the betterment of the needy people. I will go with this team to the grass-root level so that the awareness programme can take place within these 3 to 4 months so that the effect of the implementation of all the schemes will be at the faster rate.
HERALD: There was an allegation against the former minister Ramesh Tawadkar as he had failed to address most of the issues of the tribals after he was appointed in the cabinet. So how are you going to work to get that trust again?
GAUDE: Definitely I am also one person among the people of the tribals. I have been in the agitations and movements of the tribals so the people should also listen what we are going to say and I know that I am having sympathy from tribals. I will see maximum things I don’t want to talk about the past. I just want to take this tribal issue in a forward direction; forgiving the past, we are going to plan for the future; I will see that tribals get justice at the earliest and that they benefit from the constitution.
HERALD: What is your topmost priority and which are the issues you are going to tackle on priority basis?
GAUDE: My top priority is the tribal forest. There are so many cases, especially in Canacona, Quepem and Sanguem where there is dense forest area where the tribal people are living from so many decades but I came to know that some RFOs are troubling these tribal people. So we want stop this. There are also houses that are demolished. This still continues and I have asked for an inquiry report from the Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary and others.
Everyone needs a shelter, food and education. This is what I am focussing on at present. There are some places where the tribals need rehabilitation. There are some tribal people who are residing in far off places and cut off from the cities and find it difficult to travel from market to back home. There are some places, like in Cotigao, where I want to rehabilitate some people if I get a suitable land in and around Canacona.
HERALD: How do you see tribal reservation in the Goa legislative assembly?
GAUDE: That is my prime focus. In fact I have already fixed a meeting with the Prime Minister of India in June or July. Actually it is not in the hands of Goa Government but entirely with the Union government and the delimitation commission. Once the delimitation commission meets, the reservation for tribals will be sorted out. I am a little upset because the tribals got the status in the year 2003. Actually they should have got their rights long back but it’s still pending. It will take another 2 or 3 months to come up with a solution. After the presidential election is finished, I am going to meet all the National top leaders and come out with a proper solution. My prime focus is the political reservation and Tribal Forest Act. The rest will fall in place automatically.
HERALD: Elaborate on the Forest Tribal Act and how many applications are pending?
GAUDE: Applications have been received by the respective Deputy collectors, HDMs from the Talukas; they pending are with the FRCs (Forest Committees) at grass root level and then there is the state committee. So there should be a form so if FRC wants to conduct a meeting there should be forum in the gram sabha. Now some officers or certain people misunderstand this concept it depends upon the hamlets.
Suppose I am living in a rural place we need not take gram sabha of entire village, we have to take gram sabha of those affected so if we convince the gram sabha of certain hamlet then our issue will be focussed. I have given directives to all the BDOs and the talathis to go as per this programme and get all the records of tribals who are trapped in that area. Once the FRC committee scrutinises and the gram sabha is convened then the process is faster. So I have given myself three months for this process.
Firstly we are targeting Ponda, Quepem and Canacona where maximum work has been carried out. We have already received 10,064 applications. The Forest Tribal Act came in force in the year 2005 and but it is still pending. The work in Goa had started in 2011.
