Tucked away on the outskirts of Margao in Salcete lies the Scheduled Tribe dominated village of Sao Jose de Areal. Ask village Sarpanch Julio Monteiro to throw light on the composition of the village population, and immediately comes the reply that around 70 per cent of the people belong to the Scheduled Tribes community. Sadly, the village is still to see the flow of infrastructure development funds under the tribal sub plan.
Sao Jose de Areal is not the only village which stands neglected by the government for no fault of theirs in the devolution of funds for infrastructure development. Blame it on the faulty population census of State’s Scheduled Tribes, many villages, including Curtorim, Raia, Davorlim, Nuvem, which are home to the ST population do not at figure in the government’s scheme of things in the implementation of projects under the tribal sub plan.
In fact, while the government takes pride in implementing schemes in the tribal villages under the tribal sub plan, infrastructure projects under the plan are yet to flow in the vast pockets of Scheduled Tribes dotting the Salcete countryside.
Herald inquiries revealed that ST dominated Rachol is the only village in Salcete which has found favour with the government under the tribal sub plan. While Rachol is readying to welcome infrastructure projects in the form of projects comprising roads and retaining walls worth around Rs 20 lakh, many villages with ST population have been literally left high and dry.
Panchayat representatives say that the Scheduled Tribes have been denied benefits under the tribal sub plan owing to the faulty ST population survey and the irrational guidelines framed under the tribal sub plan. Says Areal Sarpanch Julio Monteiro, “I fail to understand how Sao Jose de Areal does not figure in the scheme of things when the percentage of ST population is around 70 per cent. The government should take a re-look at the census survey and also change the guidelines for the smooth flow of development funds for the STs.”
Curtorim Panch member J Santano Rodrigues said that Curtorim has three reserved wards dominated by the ST community, but have been left out of the scheme. “As per my information, schemes under the tribal sub plan are presently allotted to villages with population of 40-30 per cent. This cut off percentage should be brought down to around 10 per cent so that STs everywhere enjoy maximum benefits of the scheme,” Rodrigues demanded.
When Herald brought the discrepancies to the notice of the Director Tribal Welfare, Sandhya Kamat, she said the government is having a re-look at the guidelines governing the scheme. She admitted that her office is in receipt of complaints of the faulty census on the ST population.
Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar also agreed that the high cut off percentage has blocked the flow of funds to villages with sizeable ST population. “Plans are afoot to reduce the percentage benchmark from 30 and 40 per cent to around 15 per cent. We are aware that the present cut off percentage has blocked flow of infrastructure development funds to many villages. Things will change once the cut off percentage is brought down to 15 per cent,” Tawadkar said.
But, village sarpanchas led by ST leader and Rachol Sarpanch Joseph Vaz; however, say the government should rectify the anomalies in the ST census by carrying out a re-survey of the population.
“The ST population census does not reflect the ground reality. The percentage of ST population in Salcete villages shown in the census is far less than the ground reality. The government should rectify the discrepancies by a re-survey”, demanded Vaz, a view echoed by many scheduled tribe leaders around Salcete’s countryside.
