Not a single ST person in Chennai's 200 area sabhas: Activist

CHENNAI: Even as the lack of proper representation for women in recently constituted area sabhas in Chennai drew flak, an activist highlighted that not a single of 200 area sabhas in the city has members from scheduled tribe (ST) communities.

GM Shankar, an advocate and activist, said that the sabhas should consist of representations from all the sections of the public. But the civic body had failed to include scheduled tribe members in them.

He said: “As per the census taken in 2011, there are over 10,000 people in the city who belong to scheduled tribes. If they’re not included in the area sabhas, which have powers to decide on local needs and projects, how can they put forth their requirements to the civic body?”

Shankar pointed out that not providing proper representation to ST persons was violation of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. “There are members from scheduled castes. When inquired, corporation officials say that persons from the ST did not come forward to participate in the area sabhas. But it’s the responsibility of the civic body to convince them to participate,” he opined.

Shankar met Mayor R Priya and Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi about it and urged them to reconstitute the area sabhas to include ST persons. “Most area sabhas are taken over by DMK members, which, in principle, is wrong. The Corporation should reconstitute the area sabhas to include ST persons and add members from all sections of the public, not only from DMK,” he urged.

Meanwhile, the Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC) report said that in 145 wards, where gender disaggregated data is available, of the 1,450 area sabha members, only 97 are women. Of the 200 wards, 85 do not have any women representatives. Of the 145 wards, 36 wards have only 1 woman member.

The civic body has approved the list of area sabha members during a council meeting a few days ago. As many as 200 wards of the city have 200 area sabhas with each having 10 members.

- GM Shankar, an advocate and activist