Dalits furious over the officers failing to appear for the meeting

Dalits furious over the officers failing to appear for the meeting

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Aug 24: The members of the SC/ST communities were furious when the meeting to discuss the status of grants earmarked for SC/ST development, which was scheduled to be held at 10:30 a.m. in the meeting hall of the Taluk Panchayat did not begin even till 11:45 a.m. today. 

The furious Dalits yelled slogans against the tahsildar and the taluk social welfare officer in front of the Taluk Panchayat office after walking out of the meeting hall. 

Although the government records mention that the meeting was scheduled for 10:30 a.m., the Dalits were informed that the meeting will commence at 11:00 a.m. Moreover, the vice president and the president of the committee failed to turn up. Reddy, the social welfare officer said that the meeting will commence when the tahsildar will arrive in 10 minutes. Althogh the group waited till 11:45 a.m., the tahsildar did not arrive. 

The furious Dalits said that they will not be able to present their complaints and grievances if the meeting begins late. Further stating that the meeting is called once in 3 months, they complained about the apathetic attitude of the officers. Although the tahsildar arrived late, he hardly spoke to the Dalits; instead he directly went inside the meeting hall. The Dalits however stuck to their decision to boycott the meeting. 

Tahsildar Ravichandra Nayak told reporters that an emergency had come up and that he was following the DC’s directions in attending to the emergency. Although he apologized for the inconvenience caused, the angry Dalits chose to return home with unresolved issues and application forms.