Raigad tribal groups protest against civic apathy; issue 15-day ultimatum to officials

Santosh Thakur, founder of Gram Sanvardhan Samajik Sanstha, with the tribals and their demands

Tribals have warned Raigad district officials that they will return with a bigger protest from all over the district if their demands for basic civic amenities are not considered in the next 15 days. The tribal residents of three talukas of Raigad had been persuaded by senior district officials to withdraw their hunger strike and peaceful protest even as they expressed inability to provide immediate solutions to their demands.

The officials cited the ongoing winter session of the Legislature in Nagpur to provide an immediate solution. On the afternoon of December 13, hundreds of tribal people from Khalapur, Pen and Panvel talukas of Raigad district marched to the district collector's office in Alibaug and handed over a charter of demands to the CEO, Raigad Zilla Parishad and resident deputy collector (RDC), Raigad.

mid-day in its report ‘Do we even exist in the state's eyes?' (December 13, had written about how tribals from 10 out of 84 hamlets would march to the district collector's office seeking action against the negligence of local officials and demanding basic necessities like road, water, Anganwadi, public health facilities and crematorium in their hamlets.

Hundreds participated

Santosh Thakur, founder of Gram Sanvardhan Samajik Sanstha, said, "Hundreds of tribals including men, women and children from three talukas of Khalapur, Pen and Panvel joined the protest. Their villages lack roads, water, sanitation, Anganwadi, health check post and crematorium." "The large turnout of the tribal people is evidence that they have now decided to raise their voice against the failure of the administration," said Thakur.

He said that many of them had to walk almost five to six kilometres from their hamlets to reach the main road, for instance Khalapur is almost 70 km to 80 km from Alibaug and Pen and Panvel is also located 40 km to 60 km from the district headquarter in Alibaug. The tribal people hopped into any mode of transport they managed to get in and reached Alibaug, he said.

Police deployment

"We were received by policemen on bandobast, who were concerned about the traffic, which had got briefly hampered due to the large turnout of protestors. But by and large the police were cooperative and did not stop us from proceeding towards the collector's office," he said. The protestors were provided with water bottles and biscuits by social workers from an NGO.

All issues discussed

Thakur, and some of the protestors attended a two-hour-long meeting with Bharat Bastewad, the CEO of ZP, who had even called in his team including block development officers, project officer from Integrated Tribal Development Program (ITDP), engineers from water supply and other officials in the meeting. On water supply - The officials concerned from the water supply department have assured to speak to the contractors and kick start the incomplete work under the Jal Jivan mission program for the tribal hamlets. ITDP project officer has assured to get the wells in Khausa and Kajuchi wadi hamlets in Pen taluka and Karambali Thakurwadi in Khalapur taluka, repaired by the month end or by first week of New Year.

On road construction

The officials assured to put up the proposal once again before the District Development Planning Committee (DDPC), to construct roads connecting these hamlets, said Thakur. When asked about the dirt roads, work of which remains incomplete, even after contracts were allotted, Thakur, said, "The officials have assured to have a meeting with the said contractor and would ask to get the work completed. The officials have also assured to write to the deputy conservator of forest, seeking permission for the same."

When asked about the other issues pertaining to the crematorium, anganwadi, sanitation etc., Thakur said, "We could not discuss all problems due to shortage of time, but did take up the crematorium issue, which was discussed in details and have been assured to have it resolved once they get the sanctioned budget approval for it." The delegation later met RDC Sandesh Shirke, in absence of district collector, who was away for election training.

CEO speaks

When contacted Bharat Bastewad, the CEO, ZP, Raigad said, "They (protestors) discussed issues pertaining to internal and approach roads to their hamlets and also discussed water and a crematorium. The water scheme under the Jal Jivan scheme is already undertaken and pipes are being laid in some areas and we will need to find a way out in places where water source is not available. The wells in two or three hamlets need to be renovated and ITDP officials concerned have assured to do the needful."

"In case of roads, additional funds will be required and we will be making fresh submissions to the DPDC seeking additional budgetary allocation and only then the request for roads can be addressed. The ITDP has assured to do the needful to fulfill the need for a crematorium. Most of the issues that were raised by the protestors were already being looked into at the administration level and we have acknowledged their request to expedite the same," said Bastewad.

Deputy collector speaks

Sandesh Shirke, resident deputy collector, Raigad said, "Most of the issues that were raised by the tribal protesters, were coming under the ambit of the Zilla Parishad (ZP) and I have written to the ZP, asking them to intervene and do the needful in a time bound manner."

And when asked if any issue, came under his purview, Shirke replied in affirmative stating, "Some of the tribals, raised concern about non receipt of caste certificate, while majority of them have received the certificates, but those who haven't received, might be due to some technical hiccups such as lack of supporting evidences, a mandated norm, for issuing caste-based certificates."

"As the district collector is out of headquarters, for a training program for the forthcoming election. I have assured the protesters to discuss their demands once again in a meeting that has been called in the next couple of weeks," said Shirke.

When Thakur was asked, he said, "Most of the tribals belonging to Thakar Community from Raigad district, do not have their caste certificate even today and because of not having the caste certificate, these tribals are deprived of government benefits. Moreover, the revenue department has been insisting on having documentary evidence since 1950 to establish their linkage to the Thakar community and most of them do not have such documentary evidence and their applications are pending for decades."

Thakur added, "The revenue department and state tribal welfare ministry should come out with a solution, to ensure that a large population within the tribal community is being deprived of their fundamental and constitutional rights."

What next

Thakur said, "We have temporarily called off our protest after getting assurance from the senior district bureaucrats, who have assured us to get some of our demands resolved at the earliest and have asked for a few days' time. We have instead decided to give them fifteen days to fulfill their commitment or else our next protest morcha will be at Azad Maidan and we will head to Mantralaya, with our demands."

Dec 13
Day tribals went to collector's office