PRP takes up demands of Lambadi thandas

Praja Rajyam Party on Saturday demanded that lambadi thandas and gudas with a population of 500 or more should be declared as Gram Panchayat.

Talking to media persons, PRP leader Ramesh Naik stated that, since the past 30 years, various political parties have been trying to take advantage of the Lambadi community’s demands and using them as vote banks. He stated that the political parties conveniently forget the Lambadis after elections.

Mr Naik stated that the PRP will pressurize the government to announce every thanda in which 500 or more members of the community reside to be declared a Gram Panchayat. He also stated that the Lambadis should be given more opportunities to enter politics, since they constitute a considerable presence in the state, with a population of about 80 lakhs.

The Lambadis had on September 13 staged a protest by picketing the Secretariat to highlight these demands. The protestors had demanded that the government fulfil its promise in its 2004 election manifesto to declare the thandas as Gram Panchayats.

The Lambadis accuse the government of being discriminatory and cite their demands being put in cold storage as proof of its bias.

As many as 2,836 villages, inhabited by the Lambadis, can be declared as Gram Panchayats, if the cut-off figure of a population of 500 or more is taken into consideration.