TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: The United Tribal Association Alliance (UTAA) on Friday accused successive governments of only paying lip service to the 12-point charter of demands of the state tribals, including the constitutional provision for political reservations for the scheduled tribe community.
“It’s now 11 years since Gawda, Kunbi and Velip communities were bestowed the Scheduled Tribes status, but they are yet to enjoy the fruits of the various benefits envisaged under the Indian Constitution. Two Assembly elections have been held in Goa since the last 11 years, but the tribals have been denied seat reservation”, UTAA Chief Prakash Velip told the media.
Briefing the media on the occasion of unveiling the program to celebrate UTAA’s decade-long existence in the state on March 30 at the Ponda sports ground, Velip expressed his unhappiness that the schedules tribes in the state have only received empty promises from the government over their pending demands. “There’s been promises galore by the present and previous governments, but the promises are confined only to the papers”, he rued.
Velip demanded to know why the government has not implemented the Tribal sub-plan in the state, while accusing the government for diverting the funds meant for STs to other purposes. “Not even 40 per cent of the total outlay of Rs 416 crore has been utilised under the Tribal sub-plan”, he said.
On the question of jobs, Velip said there’s been no improvement with barely 300 out of the 2,500 jobs reserved for the ST community filled up till date. “The Scheduled areas have not been notified till date, thus denying central funds to the ST population. The Forest Act has not been implemented in the state. Law mandates implementation of the Forest Act within six years since the issuance of the notification”, he said.
When asked why the process is going on at snail’s pace despite demands and follow-ups by the tribal communities, Velip said, “May be UTAA is not enjoying power. We have not received the expected cooperation from the government”.
Asked whether UTAA plans to contest or support candidates in the elections,
Velip did not rule out the possibility of supporting candidates, saying “UTAA had in
the past supported candidates contesting the elections”.
