from daijiworld's special correspondent

Panaji, Sep 13: Long pending matter of giving schedule tribe status to Goa's "dhangar" community is referred afresh to the Registrar General of India and the Union Government is awaiting a reply of from RGI.

The union minister for tribal affairs P R Kyndiah in a letter to Goa's Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik has said that the Goa Government had recommended the inclusion of the community in the list of Scheduled Tribes in Goa in 2002.

However, the matter was referred to Registrar General of Indiain in 2002,  the Registrar did not support the proposal, Naik said.

The minister informed Naik that since the state government of Goa, in April, 2006, has submitted further justification for the inclusion of Gouly (Dhangar) community in the list of Scheduled Tribes in Goa , the same was been referred to the office of the Registrar General of India and reply is awaited.

In April, 2006 a delegation led by the Goa chief minister Pratapsingh Rane had called on the union home minister Shivraj Patil ,whose Ministry is empowered to issue notification in the matter.

Patil had then called the officials of the office of the Registrar General of India and had directed them to review the matter in the light of fresh submissions made by the Goa Government.