PANJIM: Sankhali tribals have urged Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to provide reservation for the Scheduled Tribes of Goa in the State Assembly before the Lok Sabha elections to be held next year.
People of Sankhali constituency in its meeting held under the banner “Mission Political Reservation for Scheduled Tribes of Goa on October 14, 2023, at Sakale Bayem- Surla Village Panchayat urged Dr Sawant, who is also their MLA and Tribal Minister, to give political reservation before 2024 Lok Sabha election.
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People, gathered in large numbers, demanded for their constitutional rights and requested the Chief Minister to take a delegation to the Centre to meet Prime Minister Naredra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Minister for Law and Justice Arjun Meghwal to give reservation for ST of Goa in the Assembly.
Meanwhile, Mission Political Reservation team conducted series of village panchayat levels meetings in last 20 days in Sanquelim Constituency and door to door visits to create awareness about the pending constitutional rights of tribals and to make people aware about why Reservation of seats in assembly is important to fulfilling pending demands of STs.
In a meeting, GAKUVED Federation founder member Govind Shirodkar spoke on how they have struggled to get ST status in 2003 after a series of meetings, conventions and hard work of senior ST Leaders.
“Till today, we have not got our constitutional rights even after 20 years of getting the status as ST,” he pointed out.
Tribal leader Rama Kankonkar explained to the people that 3,500 backlog vacancies in government jobs are pending while there are no basic facilities like water, light, roads, education facilities in many villages of tribals.
“We have to struggle in getting government schemes, loans and subsidies in various departments due to lengthy and complicated documentations, there are schemes but funds are not being given and diverted to other projects,” he lamented.
