MUMBAI: Several tribal MLAs including Deputy Speaker, NCP MLA Narhari Zirwal, one of the senior-most tribal MLAs from the ruling coalition jumped onto safety nets installed in Mantralaya protesting against the discontinuation of appointment of Scheduled Tribe candidates notified under PESA (The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension of Scheduled Area) and granting Scheduled Tribe status to Dhangars ahead of the assembly elections.
The Zirwal jumped from the third floor and were then taken away by the police. CM Eknath Shinde is likely to call the MLAs for a meeting later in the afternoon to try and resolve their issues.
Along with Zirwal, BJP MP Hemant Savra, MLAs Kiran Lahamate, Hiraman Khoskar and Rajesh Patil also jumped on to the safety nets.
After the police got the MLAs out of the nets, they staged a sit-in in the Mantralaya premises.
Tribal MLAs have been protesting to demand for recruitment of the tribals in govt jobs under the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) (PESA) Act 1996. They said that since Oct 2023, the process for recruiting tribals in 17 different categories has been stalled at the state govt-level in the PESA.
They said over these months, recruitments have been held for the posts of teachers, forest guards, and various other posts in the revenue and the health department among others. While non-tribal candidates have either joined or handed appointment letters, the tribal candidates for whom the posts have been reserved in the PESA have still not been recruited.
“Under PESA, tribal students were appointed but later they were told that they can’t get full time appointments. They even tried to meet CM Shinde but they could not meet the CM. So they had to take an aggressive stand. They met the CM earlier on Friday but they were not satisfied with his response so they jumped onto the nets. They have been taken away by the police. Around 15-16 tribal MLAs were in Mantralaya and some of them jumped onto the nets,” said an official.
Last month, in a letter to CM Shinde, Zirwal said the MahaYuti govt must not take any unconstitutional decision regarding to include Dhangars in theST list and a TISS report about Dhangar reservation should be published. Zirwal is an MLA from the tribal dominated Dindori assembly constituency who had said in his letter that their protest is against the MahaYuti govt’s lack of response to tribal MLAs who were protesting against the inclusion of Dhangar community in the ST list.
Zhirwal had said Dhangar community members had no issues with the govt announcing monetary schemes for their development but are against their inclusion in the ST fold.
“As the government is not listening to us, we elected representatives — including former ones, such as senior politician Madhukar Pichad — will now sit in a dharna near Mantralaya until the government withdraws its decision. Govt can give anything to the Dhangar community, but do not include it in the ST category,” said Zhirwal, adding, “I had already spoken against the govt resolution claiming Dhangar (in Maharashtra) and Dhangar (in the ST category) are the same.”
Notably, Mantralaya had installed safety net in its premises in February 2018 after a spate of suicide attempts from higher floors.