Date:11/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/11/stories/2007121160480500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Adivasis demand separate State

D. Chandra Bhaskar Rao

– Photo: G.N. Rao

Bulls-eye: Tribal women at the Adivasi Samkshema Parishad-sponsored rally for a separate State in Bhadrachalam on Monday.

BHADRACHALAM: The Adivasi Samkshema Parishad organised a massive rally in the temple town on Monday demanding formation of a separate State of Gondwana. It shall be a State “of the tribes, for the tribes and by the tribes”, declared the leadership of the organisation, which had for long been fighting against twin issues – Polavaram project and encroachment of lands of tribal communities in violation of the scheduled area regulation 1/70.

Viewed as an agitation born out of the demand for protection of rights of the tribal communities, it attracted a large number of people representing ethnic tribal communities that have predominant presence in the region. The demand for a separate tribal station was the manifestation of distrust the tribal communities had developed towards the mainstream during the past five and half decades, said Sondhu Veeraiah, president of the Adivasi Samkshema Parishad. The administration had failed to implement the laws aimed at safeguard the tribal interests. The benefits meant exclusively for the tribal communities were extended to certain communities which do not merit any such consideration going by their socio- economic status.

Mr. Veeraiah said that the tribal communities in Chandrapura area of Maharasthtra and Bastar in Chhattisgarh and parts of Orissa had been demanding for a separate tribal State. “We will plan joint action to achieve our goals”, he said.