Tribal representatives of the Paharia community of various districts of western Odisha met Central Ministers Jual Oram and Dharmendra Pradhan in Sambalpur on Monday and reiterated their demands for tribal status.
The Paharias, who are also known as Kamar, were tribals in Odisha before independence, but they were excluded from the ST list of Odisha after Independence whereas their counterparts in Madhya Pradesh were retained in the ST list.
“It was a mistake of the officials engaged in census operation after Independence who understood Kamar as Kamara and put us in the caste of blacksmith,” said Sukalsai Paharia a representative. “We have been demanding tribal status since 90s and it is for second time we met
Tribal Affairs Minister Oram to pursue our case,” said Sukal.The Paharia is one of the 20 tribal communities recommended for inclusion in ST list of Constitutional (ST) order 1950 by the high level task force on scheduling of tribes, headed by the then Tribal Affairs Secretary Hrushikesh Panda.
But the Paharia tribe does not figure in the list of tribals approved by the Union Cabinet recently, which has created resentment within the Paharia community.
The tribal leaders also discussed separately with Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Both the Ministers have assured the people that, their demand would be fulfilled. Press Club members Ajit Panda, Tapan Dash and Sanjay Tiwari accompanied the tribal leaders.