To press for reservation, UTAA has decided to hold demonstrations opposite the Captain of Ports Jetty on January 14.
At a press conference on Friday, UTAA President Prakash Shankar Velip stated that his organisation had recently met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who sympathized with them.
He further said that during the elections of 2003, 2007, and 2012, nobody paid attention to the tribals’ demands. “For the upcoming elections, we will persistently push the Government to get their demand fulfilled, and a political movement was not out of the question,” he said.
“We wonder how and why the three ordinances of the Election Commission paving way for political reservations for tribal people have lapsed; one of them lapsed recently. However, we are still hopeful that the government will give it (reservations) to us,” said Velip.
He further stated that the tribals had been constantly agitating and placing their demands at different forums, but till date, nothing has been done to reserve constituencies for the elections in 2017. He added that if the Goan ST community did not get reservations, it would be a great injustice to the people.
