Day-long bandh hits normal life in Agency areas

Visakhapatnam/ Rajahmundry: The one-day call to bandh (Manyam Bandh) by various tribal associations under the banner of Girijana Sangham and GO No 3 Sadhana Committee, demanding an amendment to GO No 3 that was scrapped by the Supreme Court, evoked a good response in tribal pockets of Agency areas in East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts on Tuesday.
Normal life was affected in many pockets with business establishments remaining closed and most public and private vehicles off the roads. However, protestors did not stop emergency vehicles and interstate goods and passenger vehicles.
Tribal activists visited government offices, banks and tourist places, seeking the support of staff to observe the bandh and close offices, hotels and restaurants.
Speaking to TOI, K Surendra, an activist in the Araku Valley region, said the scrapping of GO No 3 would deprive educated tribal youth in the Agency of employment opportunities as the GO stipulates that teacher posts in tribal areas must be filled only by tribal candidates. “We will intensify our protest in the coming days for a constitutional amendment to GO No 3,” he added.
In East Godavari district, protestors demanded the government issue a special DSC notification to fill teacher posts in scheduled areas with candidates from Scheduled Tribes and merge tribal villages under non-scheduled areas with scheduled areas.

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