Tribal priests conducting the Sammakka Sarakka Jatara urged the Centre to declare the tribal fair as national festival and take steps to preserve the ethnicity of the jatara.
Priests Siddaboina Jagga Rao and Chanda Gopal Rao said the Centre has been actively involved in conduct of Kumbh Mela, Amarnath yatra, pushkaralu among others. Similarly, the State and Central governments should involve themselves in big way in conducting biggest tribal jatara held once in two years at Medaram village in Tadvai forests.
Tribal rights
A group of tribal priests submitted a memorandum to MP A. Sitaram Naik requesting him to raise the issue in Parliament and to bring it to the notice of Centre.
The priests said the government should take steps to grow more forest around Medaram and surrounding villages. The tribals farming the lands should be given patta passbooks. The farmers losing the crop on account of jatara should be compensated.
“We have been demanding that the government should set up fencing around the Chilkalgutta from where deity Sammakka is brought to the altar during jatara. The devotees have been cutting the precious forest there and there is urgent need to protect it,” Mr. Jagga Rao said.
Protecting customs
The tribals have been demanding that they should be involved in all matters and none should try to altar the customs. They wanted the government and private people not to construct buildings within the vicinity of the altar in Medaram village.
The MP said he empathized with tribal priests and would raise the issue in Parliament. “In 2015, the Centre declared the Vanaj, another tribal festival as national festival. There is every chance for Medaram jatara to be recognized as such. The Medaram jatara attracts over one crore people from various states and deserves to be accorded national status,” he said.
