Around 70 tribal youth belonging to the ST Community have been running from pillar to post to get financial assistance promised to them by the tribal welfare corporation. The tribal youth have alleged that not only are the heads of the government department lethargic in implementing the schemes meant for the tribals but it appears that they have an allergy as far as they are concerned. They pointed out that the government is not implementing the scheme meant for them properly or brings unwanted hurdles in the way so as to delay the benefit of the schemes to the tribals. In this case, the Tribal Employment Generation Programme (GTEGP) under the Tribal Sub-Plan was notified on January 17, 2013.
A financial amount of Rs 1.5 crore was sanctioned by the government in 2013. For the last three years, this file is pending at the Industries and Commerce department.
The scheme was notified in view of the direction of the planning commission of the government of India to direct benefits to the families of Scheduled Tribes and the implementing agency of the scheme is, Directorate of Industries Trade and Commerce (DITC), Panjim.
A sum of Rs 1.58 crore for their projects was approved by the finance department but the same is not released and is lying in the directorate of accounts as the Industries department did not submit the MOU as requested. The Industries department is yet to do the needful and as a result, the funds meant for them are not deposited in the accounts of the Tribal Multipurpose Cooperative credit Society which can then be disbursed to them.
The youth said they find it strange that the Industries department requires so much time to prepare one MOU and get it approved from the concerned government department. One of the applicants, Rupesh Velip stated that they are struggling to get these loans and all their efforts went in vain. They have warned that they will protest in front of the Industries and Commerce department if the loan is not released within one month. Besides Rupesh, Peter Viegas, the coordinator of the Tribal association, Jairam Velip and Francisco Dias lamented about the lethargic attitude of Government departments in implementing Tribal Schemes. “We have applied for a loan under these schemes before December 2013. Some of us have opened shops and other premises on a rental basis with the hope that we will get the benefit under the scheme at an early date and will be able to start our entrepreneurship and in turn will be able to pay the monthly rent,” said Rupesh.
