From purchasing London Bungalow to acquiring Indu mills for twin memorials to celebrate 125 birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar with much fanfare setting aside separate fund of Rs500 crore for a year-long celebration the Devendra Fadnavis-led government is leaving no stone unturned to woo Dalits since it came to power. However, it is unaware that the Dalits in the state were being denied their rightful for years altogether, due to sheer ignorance.
From purchasing London Bungalow to acquiring Indu mills for twin memorials to celebrate 125 birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar with much fanfare setting aside separate fund of Rs500 crore for a year-long celebration the Devendra Fadnavis-led government is leaving no stone unturned to woo Dalits since it came to power. However, it is unaware that the Dalits in the state were being denied their rightful for years altogether, due to sheer ignorance.
It has emerged that at least 11 civic corporations in the state are openly flouting quota rules since many years by reserving much less seats for the SC and ST candidates than the reservation policy of the country. As per the rule, all civic corporations must set-aside their 13% and 7% seats for schedule caste and schedule tribe categories respectively.
However, an extensive analysis by the legislator Prakash Gajbhiye reveals that Mumbai Municipal Corporation reserves only 11 wards (4.8%) for SC and two wards for the ST (1.8%) instead of 30 and 16 respectively. Thane, Akola, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Malegaon, Parbhani, Mira-Bhayander, Jalgaon, Dhule, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli have reserved much less seats than needed. Incidentally, majority of them are adjoining the state capital Mumbai.
A written complaint in this regard was submitted to the state election commission on Wednesday by MLC Prakash Gajbhiye. Chief minister, social justice minister have also been informed about the major discrepancies which remained unnoticed for long due to unknown reasons.
Gajbhiye told dna, "The BMC reserves only 11 constituencies instead of 30 for SCs which is a dismal 4.88% as against the national policy of 13%. Similarly, it offers only two seats to STs while as per rule it must have 16 seats for tribal candidates to comply 7% quota norm. Several corporations are flouting norms which is not only illegal but also injustice to Dalits which remained under wrap till now." He doesn't blame anyone for the flaw though.
Efforts to get a reaction from social justice minister Rajkumar Badole and chief minister on fresh revelations were on till the time of going to press.
SC seats in various civic corporations
Thane-4.61%
Bhiwandi-1.1%
Mira-Bhayander-1.05%
Kalyan Dombivali-5.6%
Vasai-Virar-4.34%
26 municipal corporations
Open Seats: 1570 (60.3%)
OBC Seats: 705 (27%)
SC seats: 260 (9.9%)
ST: 70 (2.7%)
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