03 Aug 2021  |   07:47am IST

Don’t give assent, MLA & ST members tell Guv

Don’t give assent, MLA  & ST members tell Guv

Team Herald

PANJIM: Sanguem Independent MLA Prasad Gaonkar, along with a delegation of Scheduled Tribes (ST) communities, met Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai and appealed to him not to give his assent to the Bill.

Opposing the bill, Prasad Gaonkar said that during the meeting with the Governor, they informed him that the ST communities were always known as bhumiputra and demanded that the government should drop this word ‘bhumiputra’ from the Bill. 

The delegation submitted a memorandum to the Governor stating that the bill has defied the meaning of ‘Bhumiputra’, which is a sensitive issue as far as indigenous people of Goa are concerned.  

The Sanguem MLA alleged that the government had failed to resolve their long pending demand to identify and notify scheduled areas in the State in order to safeguard the tribal lands from encroachments and instead has brought legislation to regularise the unauthorised structures of the encroachers. 

ST leader Upaso Gaonkar said that for centuries Gawda, Kunbi and Velip communities were always known as bhumiputra and alleged that the government is trying to recognise those residing in houses illegally as bhumiputra. He feared that the bill will recognise citizens of Nepal working as security personnel and even Nigerians staying in Goa for last 30 years as bhumiputra.   

Gaonkar warned that if the word ‘Bhumiputra’ is not omitted from the bill then the ST communities will launch State-wide agitation against the bill.


IDhar UDHAR

Idhar Udhar