Team Goemkarponn
QUEPEM: Tribal organisations in Goa have stepped up their campaign for political representation, beginning a statewide awareness drive at Cola in Quepem over the delay in reserving four Assembly constituencies for Scheduled Tribes (STs) ahead of the 2027 elections.
Speakers at the gathering expressed concern that the statutory process for implementing the reservation may not be completed in time, raising fears that the ST community could once again go without reserved political representation in the State Assembly.
Campaign convenor Rupesh Velip said the demand for political reservation had been pursued by the community for several decades. He pointed out that the political reservation legislation was enacted last year, but the community had yet to see sufficient progress towards its implementation.
Velip said ST organisations had sought the final notification on reservation before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and had undertaken more than 130 awareness programmes across Goa to educate people about their constitutional rights.
He warned that further delays could push the process to the final stage of the election cycle, potentially leaving the community without the representation it has been seeking.
The meeting also raised questions over the utilisation of funds earmarked for tribal welfare. Velip sought details of how the government had utilised Rs 33.37 crore allocated for major tribal programmes and asked how much of the expenditure had translated into direct benefits for tribal households and communities.
Activist Rama Kankonkar raised a separate concern over budgetary allocations for tribal development. He questioned the non-utilisation of funds meant for the ST population and alleged that a substantial portion of the entitled allocation had remained unspent over the years.
According to Kankonkar, inadequate utilisation of tribal development funds had contributed to the continued socio-economic difficulties faced by the community and denied ST families their rightful share of development benefits.
Journalist Soiru Velip and Dr Satyavan Gaonkar also spoke at the programme, calling for stronger awareness and coordinated action on issues affecting the tribal population.
The Cola programme is being positioned as the first phase of a broader campaign that will reach ST-majority villages and panchayats across Goa. Organisers said the drive will highlight political reservation, tribal welfare allocations, implementation of Forest Rights, pending employment opportunities and land-related rights.
The organisers said the campaign would continue to mobilise the community and press for action on the long-pending demands before the 2027 Assembly elections.
