Separate Scheduled Tribe Commission will be established for Maharashtra

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that approval has been given to establish an independent Scheduled Tribe Commission for Maharashtra on the lines of the Central Government. This proposal was approved in the State Tribal Advisory Council held today under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister. Along with this, various issues like reorganisation of scheduled areas of the state, provision of funds according to population, starting of project offices in talukas of tribal districts etc. were discussed in this meeting.

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Vice President Narhari Jirwal, Tribal Development Minister Dr. Vijaykumar Gavit, Food and Drug Administration Minister Dharmarao Baba Atram and MPs and MLAs of tribal areas were present.

The opinion of the Law and Justice Department has been taken regarding the establishment of an independent Scheduled Tribe Commission for the state and the draft of the Act of this Commission has been prepared by the Tribal Research and Training Institute. This was approved for further action in the 51st meeting of the State Tribal Advisory Council held today. It was discussed in detail in the meeting that the amount allocated for the Tribal Department lapses if not spent in that financial year. The entire fund should be distributed to the department by the end of December. During this, the Chief Minister said that he does not want to divert the funds anywhere else. The Chief Minister said that efforts should be made to ensure that the quality of work done in tribal areas is good and that the works of roads, ashrams, hostels and hostels should be of good quality. 

On this occasion, discussions were held regarding the full-time appointment of Indian Administrative Service officers to the post of Project Officer in 11 highly sensitive project offices of the state. The Chief Minister also directed that project officers should regularly visit ashram schools in their work area. At this time, approval was given to create project offices at taluka level in tribal dominated districts.