Margao: A delegation of the Gouly-Dhangar community, led by former deputy chief minister Chandrakant Kavlekar, met chief minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday, urging him to expedite the community’s inclusion in Goa’s Scheduled Tribes (ST) list and resolve the long-pending demand within two months.The meeting comes in the wake of the Union ministry of tribal affairs rejecting the state’s proposal for the community’s ST inclusion. Kavlekar said the chief minister assured the delegation that he had already taken up the issue with the Union Tribal Affairs Minister and had written to the ministry on June 5 seeking a review of the decision.The delegation also urged Sawant to seek an appointment with Union Home Minister Amit Shah to urge him to intervene in the matter.Kavlekar maintained that the Office of the Registrar General of India (RGI) had not rejected the proposal outright, but had only raised queries from time to time, all of which had been addressed by the community. “The RGI has never rejected our proposal,” he said.The Gouly-Dhangar community has been pressing for Scheduled Tribe status since 2003. With the Union ministry’s latest rejection adding fresh uncertainty to the two-decade-old demand, community leaders are now banking on political intervention at the highest level to revive their case.
