HYDERABAD

Deputy Floor Leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in the Assembly and former minister T. Harish Rao has criticised the Congress Government alleging that it has deceived the SC and ST communities by failing to implement the promises made in the Chevella Declaration.

Speaking at a protest organised by the “Lambadi Rights Protection Committee (Lambadi Hakkula Porata Samithi)” at Indira Park here on Tuesday, he said the protest was not just a demonstration but a battle for the self-respect of Lambadi and other tribal communities.

After the formation of Telangana, then Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had upgraded 3,146 ‘tandas’ (Lambadi habitations) into Gram Panchayats and empowered tribal communities politically, Mr. Harish Rao said. Condemning the arrests of Lambadi women and youth protesting against land acquisition in Kodangal constituency, the BRS leader alleged that even pregnant women were not spared during police action.

The former minister said Congress had promised titles for ‘podu’ lands to the cultivators, but instead it had grabbed nearly 50,000 acres of lands being cultivated by SCs and STs in the name of industries and large corporate projects.

Faulting the Congress Government for its neglect of the Lamabadi community, he pointed out that the community was not given a Cabinet berth even in the third year of the government. He stated the Government had not allocated any funds to the Sevalal Maharaj, Kumram Bheem and Ekalavya Corporations and said out of the ₹2,730 crore allocation to SC Corporation, only ₹50 crore was spent.