MARGAO: At the meeting of the Salcete taluka unit of the Mission Political Reservation for Scheduled Tribes of Goa (MPRSTG), Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was urged to clear the proposal pending before him so that political reservation in the Goa’s Assembly is done before the upcoming Lok Sabha (LS) elections. This meeting was held at Tolleband, Davorlim, and prominent members from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) community of Goa, including elected members at the panchayat and municipal level were in attendance.
This meeting comes against the backdrop of the All-Goa meeting that was held recently where members of 14 ST organisations had resolved to boycott the LS elections if the notification to reserve seats for the STs in the Goa Assembly is not issued before the polls.
MPRSTG President Adv Joao Fernandes appealed to the ST community to join this mass movement.
At the Davorlim meeting, Davorlim Sarpanch Herculano Niasso was appointed President of MPRSTG’s Salcete taluka unit.
Niasso reiterated that the CM should submit the proposal for political reservations of seats under Article 330 and 332 of the Constitution of India, on priority basis. Rachol Sarpanch Joseph Vaz urged everyone to remain united and
come together to protect the identity, culture and rights of Scheduled Tribes communities.
MPRSTG executive member Rama Kankonkar criticised the government for not allocating the tribal Sub-plan funds as per budgetary provisions.
“STs of Goa are eligible to get funding of Rs 2,500 crore every year for developmental work of tribal villages, for their basic needs such as construction of roads, schools, providing water & electricity in every village and for self-employment schemes. However hardly Rs 200 cr is being spent every year,” said Kankonkar.
