Fill up backlog posts before giving jobs to 1 lakh unemployed youths: CCTOA

'There are 12,155 posts, reserved for ST (Plains and Hills), lying vacant in 59 government departments. The government should take steps to fill up these backlog posts'

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Coordination Committee of the Tribal Organizations of Assam (CCTOA) has demanded the State Government to fill up backlog posts reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs) in many departments before giving government jobs to 1 lakh youths of the State.

A meeting of the CCTOA was held in Guwahati on Monday where many important issues concering the welfare of tribal people were discussed. The meeting was held under the president ship of All Assam Tribal Sangha (AATS) president Sukumar Basumatary.

CCTOA chief coordinator Aditya Khakhlari told The Sentinel about the various resolution adopted in the meeting. "Under the provisions of chapter X of the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886, the cabinet decided to declare Ahom, Moran, Muttock, Chutia and Gorkha people residing in Sadiya tribal belts in Tinsukia as protected class. However, in the notification the cut-off year has not been mentioned. The Sadiya tribal belts were declared on March 13, 1951. In the meeting, we adopted a resolution to demand that March 13, 1951 should be taken as the cut-off date and only those people of the five communities who have been living in the Sadiya tribal belts before that date should be declared as 'protected class'," said Khakhlari.

The State Government had recently announced that 1 lakh umemployed youths of the State would be getting government jobs by March 31, 2022. "Before giving 1 lakh government jobs, the government should first fill up the backlog posts reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) in various goverment departments," said Khakhlari.

He added that there were 12,155 posts, reserved for ST (Plains and Hills), lying vacant in 59 government departments. "The government should take steps to fill up these backlog posts and also lay down the criteria for filling up these posts," he said. Khakhlari further said that while giving jobs to 1 lakh unemployed youths, the government should follow the reservation rules and reserve jobs for STs.

The CCTOA chief coordinator welcomed the State Government's drive against drugs. At the same time, he cautioned that the police and excise departments should refrain from resorting to illegal means to achieve their goal of a drugs-free society. Khakhlari alleged that in the name of conducting raids against illicit liquor, police and excise personnel were harassing tribal people and even destroying their property. In this regard, he said that the CCTOA demanded strict action against the woman constable who recently publicly chided a woman illicit liquor seller and verbally abused her.

Khakhlari mentioned about a woman named Aadam Kayapani who owned 33 bighas of land in Xorutari village in the South Kamrup tribal belt under Sonapur revenue circle. He alleged that her land had been illegally encroached upon by two persons and they had set up an industry on that plot of land. "In this regard, we had submitted a memorandum to the former Chief Minister and he had directed the Deputy Commissioner to look into the matter and take necessary action. However, no step has been taken by the authority concerned till date," he said. He demanded that the encroached land should be returned to its rightful owner. He urged the Chief Minister to intervene in the matter.

The CCTOA has urged the Deputy Commissioners of the various districts to ensure that students do not face any hassles in getting their ST certificates. The CCTOA has also demanded that special TET should be held for ST candidates.

A two-day tribal convention will be held in Shilpagram, Guwahati in September this year, informed Khakhlari.

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