Nellol: Leaders of the Planned Tribe from the Plains demanded decades of systematic neglect, demanding fair political representation and inclusion in policy making.
At a meeting held on Sunday in Ambedkar Bhavan in Ongole, tribal leaders including former DGP J. Poornachandra Rao stressed that communities like Yanadis, Erukalas, Sugalis, Chenchus and Kammaras were excluded despite accounting for 5.86% of the state’s population.
“Most of the representatives were given to the tribes in the proxy area. Plain tribes, including the 500,000-mile Yanadi community, still have no representations.” Since independence, few of the 115 ST MLAs belong to Plain tribes.
During the upcoming demarcation practice, he called for three to four gathering seats to be reserved for the plain tribes. He also marked poverty in infrastructure in tribal hotels and schools in non-institutional areas and criticized the lack of specialized development institutions like ITDA.
BSP State Coordinator B. Paranjyoti noted that despite the announcement of ST sub-program funds every year, they are often allocated. “Without political representation, the welfare and employment programs of these communities are still ignored,” he said.
Leaders urged the government to take immediate action, warning that a large-scale campaign would be launched to ensure just and equitable development of plain tribes.
