State-level SC/ST panel to be set up through an ordinance soon

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, OCT. 30. The State-level SC/ST Commission, planned by the State Government in compliance with the recommendation of the Justice Punnaiah Commission, will be constituted through an ordinance soon.

Announcing this at a press conference here on Tuesday, the Minister for Social Welfare, Mrs K. Pushpaleela, said the draft of the ordinance which was ready, would be finalised by the Cabinet at its forthcoming meeting slated for November 5. Then, it would sent be for the Governor's consent and the commission would be constituted after the consent is obtained.

The Minister also disclosed that nine special courts were being set up in as many districts which had a track record of atrocities against SCs/STs--Nellore, Kurnool, Cuddapah, Medak, Karimnagar, Krishna, Nizamabad, Mahabubnagar and Guntur, to try such cases.

Referring to the anti-untouchability inaugural campaign being taken up for three days from November 1 in the State, she said the administration in the districts had been fully geared up for the exercise and the Collectors were already in receipt of publicity material. Teams had been formed with officials and non- officials to go about the villages with the aim of covering at least three in a mandal up to November 3. She said though the inaugural drive was confined to three days, the campaign would be continued till the practice of untouchability was totally eradicated. The themes for the three days would be temple entry, removal of the two-glass system and drawal of drinking water from the village's common source.

Answering questions, Mrs Pushpaleela said that a comprehensive GO (GOMS NO 92) was issued giving effect to many recommendations of the Punnaiah Commission. She expressed the Government's inability to remove caste column in applications and certificates at this stage on the ground that caste, even now, indicated the candidates's economic and social status based on which the Government benefits under schemes would have to be conferred.

She said senior IAS officers had been drafted for the three-day initial drive each to cover a group of districts. The Social Welfare Secretary, Mr Jannat Hussain, would supervise the campaign in Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts; the Tribal Welfare Secretary, Mr C. S. Biswal, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam; the Social Welfare Commissioner, Mr M. Samuel, Cuddapah, Anantapur, and Kurnool; the SC Finance Corporation MD, Mr P. Umamaheswara Rao, East Godavari, West Godavari, and Krishna; the Secretary for the Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Residential Institutions Society, Mrs Shanti Kumari, Mahabubnagar, Ranga Reddy and Medak and the Additional Social Welfare Secretary, Mohd. Elias Razvi, the districts of Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Nalgonda.

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Section  : Southern States
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