The Adivasis of Venkatapur gram panchayat in Dandepalli mandal of Mancherial district on Sunday declared that they will boycott the ensuing panchayat election. They demanded scrapping of the proposal to make Patelguda hamlet a new gram panchayat by bifurcating Venkatapur and vowed to stage protests until the proposal is dropped.
Quoting from a resolution passed by the aboriginal people, village head man or patel, Kova Doulath Rao, who is also the president of Adivasi Sena in old united Adilabad district, said the government had notified constitution of the new gram panchayat in October 2017. “We have been representing on this issue since November that year but the government has ignored our pleas,” he pointed out.
Mr. Doulath Rao said the area falls under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution and is governed by special laws. “It is mandatory for the government to seek opinion of tribal people living in the area before taking any such decision,” he added.
