Thrissur: Subsequent governments in the state have utterly failed to provide justice to the tribal community and the bureaucratic-political mafia has siphoned off most of the funds intended for the welfare of the tribals, former KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran said. Speaking at a protest meet organized by Dalit Congress here on Monday, Sudheeran demanded a white paper on the funds used in the tribal areas.
The protest meet was organized in view of the incident of a mentally ill tribal youth Madhu being beaten to death by a mob in Attappadi over allegations of stealing rice. "It is highly deplorable that even after thousand of crores were spent by both the union and state governments, a tribal youth had to steal rice due to hunger. The job of the officials posted in tribal areas by the government is to work for tribal upliftment rather than swindling funds," he noted.
He added that there was an all-party mafia including politicians and officials for diverting the funds meant for tribals. After putting an end to the corrupt means of using tribal welfare funds and doing away with middlemen, special emphasis was needed for tribal areas like Attappadi, he added. Dalit Congress district president N.K. Sudheer, former MLA P.A. Madhavan, ex-mayor I.P. Paul, among other Congress and Dalit Congress leaders took part in the protest held in front of the Collectorate.
