The Scheduled Tribes (ST) wing of the Shivamogga district Janata Dal (Secular) staged a protest here on Monday, over inordinate delays in extending welfare benefits to the ST community.

The protesters marched from the party’s district office to the Deputy Commissioner’s office, raising slogans against the delay in implementing various schemes of the Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation.

They accused the corporation of misusing funds and claimed that the misappropriated money had not been recovered. They alleged that the government had failed to release adequate funds for the welfare of the Scheduled Tribes.

They highlighted large-scale corruption in the implementation of schemes providing nutritious food to the community. Additionally, students belonging to the ST community have not received scholarships and laptops for the past two years.

Their demands included immediate processing of pending applications for borewells under the Ganga Kalyana scheme, disbursal of financial assistance for self-employment initiatives, and grant of land to eligible beneficiaries, enhancement of reservation for the STs in government recruitment from the current 3% to 7.5%, in line with their population share.

The protest was staged under the leadership of MLA for Shivamogga Rural Sharada Puryanaik, and was led by JD(S) State ST wing president H.R. Hanumanthappa, former MLA K.B. Prasanna Kumar, and other party leaders.