Mumbai: Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis constituted a cabinet sub-committee to take a decision on various demands of the Dhangar community. A release issued by the Chief Minister’s office (CMO) said, that the decision has been taken in view of the report submitted over the issue by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).
“The first meeting of the committee will be held on Saturday,” it stated. The sub-committee will be headed by Fadnavis and includes ministers Chandrakant Patil, Subhash Desai, Ram Shinde, Mahadev Jankar, Pankaja Munde, Vishnu Sawra, Eknath Shinde, Rajkumar Badole and Sambhaji Patil Nilagekar.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Dhangar leaders, were called for a meeting with the advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, senior Shiv Sena minister Subhash Desai and BJP minister Chandrakant Patil, decided that the state government will submit affidavit in the Bombay High Court stating that no ‘Dhangar’ caste exists in Maharashtra. The community claimed that the two, Dhangads and Dhangars are from one community and that they are not categorised as different in Maharashtra.
“Dhangads are listed as a ST whereas Dhangars as VJNT in the state. A typographical error had led to the community’s name being registered as “Dhangar” as words ending with ‘R’ pronounced as ‘D’ in the north India, which might have led the misinterpretation,” said a Dhangar leader. Recently, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had called on Fadnavis with members of the Dhangar community and discussed their demands of reservation.
The Dhangars are currently included in the Vimukt Jati Nomadic Tribe (VJNT) category, but they have been demanding Scheduled Tribes (ST) status for long. The Marathas form 30 per cent of the population, while the Dhangars constitute nine per cent of it.