Mahbubnagar: STs get raw a deal in reservations for municipalities

Mahbubnagar: As the process of reservations for upcoming municipal polls came to an end on Sunday, the members of Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the erstwhile Mahbubnagar district have expressed their displeasure stating that not a single municipality seat was reserved for them. As the election officials from Mahbubnagar, Narayanpet, Nagarkurnool, Gadwal and Wanaparthy districts released the list of reserved seats for municipal wards and for the chairpersons posts in all the 17 out of 19 municipalities that are going for elections, among all the communities, the STs feel they were excluded as not a single municipal chairperson's post was allocated to them.

Speaking to The Hans India, Gopal Nayak of Lambada Hakkula Porata Samithi (LHPS), stated that the reservation process has been done unscientifically. There are many wards in Wanaparthy, Nagarkurnool, Mahbubnagar and Narayanpet districts that are densely populated with STs. However, the officials have failed to allocate even a single municipal chairperson post for the STs. "The present system of reservation for various communities has been done unscientifically. The ST population is more than 10-12 per cent in erstwhile Mahbubnagar. At least on this basis, the officials should have allocated one chairman post for the ST community. It clearly shows that the government is least bothered about the welfare of ST communities and they are trying to deprive the STs politically," said Gopal Nayak.

Going by the list of reservations made by the election officials, the Backward Classes (BC) have got eight municipalities, followed by people in General category with five and the Scheduled Castes grabbing four. Many leaders from the ST communities are of the view that the officials should have allocated at least one seat for the STs and four seats for General category. "General category combines everyone, even SCs, STs, forward classes and BCs are included in it. However, this category is dominated by the rich communities like Reddys, Velamas and Raos, who are all forward caste people, therefore the chances of STs competing with them in the municipal elections to grab the municipal chairman's post is impossible. Therefore, we feel the government has completely ignored the ST communities and done injustice to them with regard to reservations," observed another leader Govind Nayak.

Of all the 17 municipalities, the eight municipalities of Narayanpet, Kosgi, Makthal, Kollapur, Gadwal, Mahbubnagar, Wanaparthy and Amarachinta have been allocated for BC communities and of them 50 per cent of them are allocated to women candidates, while the remaining 50 per cent are allocated for BC (General) category. While the municipalities of Ieja, Pebbair, Alampur and Vaddepally have been allocated to SC category, of them, three are allocated for SC women while one municipality of Ieja is reserved for SC (General).

The municipalities of Kottakota, Atmakur and Nagarkurnool have been allocated for General Women under the Open category (OC), while the municipalities of Bhootpur and Kalwakurthy are left un-reserved.

Meanwhile, the election officials have also declared the Achampet municipality unreserved. However, this municipality is not going for elections this month. No reservations have been announced for the Jadcherla municipality which is yet under the process of delimitation. The ST communities are of the view that at least the government should have allocated the Achampet municipality for the ST category as the ST population in this municipality is more.

Overall, the ST communities across erstwhile Mahbubnagar district have expressed their displeasure stating that the State government has completely ignored them in the upcoming municipal elections. However, the election officials and district authorities, refuting the allegations, said that reservations were allocated based on the population ratio in the municipalities and they have followed the due process set by the Election Commission while finalising the reservations.