Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday requested the Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Jual Oram over telephone to include the Vimukat Jatis, including Baazigars, of the State in the list of Scheduled Tribes with immediate effect. Badal, presiding over a meeting of Punjab Baazigar Front led by Punjab Baazigar and Taprivaas Development Board chairman labh Singh Devigarh, informed them that Oram had assured him that he would soon get this matter resolved on the priority thereby conceding their long pending demand to declare Vimukat Jatis including Baazigars as ST.
The delegation was apprised in the meeting that the Chief Minister has already written a letter to Oram urging him to include 33 sub-castes of the State as ST.
It may be recalled that two books of ethnographic study done by the Punjabi University Patiala in this regard were already sent to the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs to take an appropriate call on this issue.
The Chief Minister also asked the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) to thoroughly examine the demand of the front for seeking allotment of suitable land in Mohali for the construction of Bhawan in the memory of Bhai Mani Singh, the great Sikh martyr who laid down his life against the tyrannical oppression unleashed by the then Mughals.
Badal also asked the newly-appointed Punjab Baazigar and Taprivaas Development Board chairman to work relentlessly for the welfare of downtrodden and weaker section of the society with missionary zeal.
