Panaji: A delegation led by former deputy chief minister Chandrakant ‘Babu’ Kavlekar met Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday and urged him to pursue the demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the Dhangar community.
The Chief Minister assured the delegation that he would take up the matter with Union Home Minister Amit Shah by August 15.
Sawant also said Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram had assured that the demand would be reconsidered.
Community leaders said they would decide their future course of action if no positive decision is taken by the deadline.
The Dhangar community has renewed its decades-old demand for ST status after the Centre rejected the proposal, stating that the matter requires reconsideration.
The community has been pursuing ST status for more than 23 years.
The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs had informed the Goa government that its proposal seeking inclusion of the Gouly-Dhangar community in the Scheduled Tribe category had been rejected as it did not receive the approval of the Registrar General of India (RGI).
