GUWAHATI, Dec 10 � Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said that the State Government had asked each of the six ethnic groups, which have been agitating for Scheduled Tribe status to them, to present their individual cases before the Registrar General of India (RGI). Even the expert groups were attached to each of these groups to prepare their cases, as cases of the each of the groups are different.
The State Government is also taking up the issue of according ST status to each of these groups with the Central Government. The State Government has already submitted documents to the Central Government on the issue, claimed the Chief Minister while addressing a press conference.
It needs mention here that the six ethnic groups � Koch Rajbongshis, Ahoms, Moran, Matak, Tea Tribe communities and the Chutiyas � have been agitating for quite a long time for the ST status to their communities and of late it is reported that the RGI has refused to accord them ST status. This has created a lot of tumult in the State.
However, Gogoi said, the RGI is yet to inform the State Government anything on the issue. So, the State Government is of the view that the matter is still under consideration of the RGI, the Chief Minister said.
The State Government has by this time assured the tribal groups that they would not be disadvantaged if the six ethnic groups get the ST status from the Government of India. For, the reservation quota for the STs would be enhanced then.
Dismissing the charge that the State Government is working against the interests of these six ethnic groups, he said that the sincerity of the State Government to uplift the condition of these groups can be seen in the fact that development councils have been formed for each of these groups.
Moreover, the State Government has planned the Upper House of the State Legislature with a view to provide proper representation to each of the ethnic groups of the State, he said.
The Chief Minister criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the claim it has made that it would be according ST status within 24 hours of its assuming power in Delhi. The people of the State are not that fool to believe such a hyperbole, he said.
Moreover, it was the BJP-led Government at the Centre which discontinued the ST status to the Koch-Rajbongshis, said the Chief Minister.
