Margao: All Goa Dhangar Samaj (AGDS) president Chandrakant Kavalekar has expressed sadness over the delay in including the Dhangar community in the Scheduled Tribes category.
Incidentally, the AGDS will hold a meeting in Panjim on January 31. At the meeting, it will decide when to convene a huge meeting of all community members and will invite all 40 MLAs and ministers for the same. It will also present a memorandum to the MLAs asking for a synergetic follow up of their demand to be included in the ST category.
Kavalekar stated that the association had taken the decision to convene the large meeting as there had been unrest among the community recently.
“In 2003, when the Gawda, Kunbi, Velip and Dhangar communities were planned to be included in the ST category, all seemed to be going well. However, the Dhangars were kept out of the category by the Central Ministry, stating that there are technical shortfalls in the whole process. Since then, we have made over four representations to the State and Centre for help, but it’s not happening,” said Kavalekar, who is also the Quepem MLA.
He added, “All MLA and ministers of Goa have been supporting us throughout the whole process, but I am puzzled why it gets stuck every time.”
Meanwhile, AGDS secretary Misal stated, “Four years and several requests from the community to the Centre have not done any good to our movement, and after the Gawda, Kunbi and Velip communities were included in the ST category, even they have deserted us.”
The Dhangar community in Goa has a little over 25,000 members, who reside mostly in rural areas. AGDS claims that they are in no mood to agitate, but they have decided to get an answer from the Centre.
