The Maharashtra government rushed into action on Saturday and declared it was embracing hunger strike by tribal students who had come out on the streets demanding an assurance from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over a plea filed before the Bombay High Court and opened appeal by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Following a meeting with protesting students from these three cities, Fadnavis accepted their demand, and their hunger strikes were called off in these cities.
Tribal Development Minister Ashok Uike also held talks with the protesters and assured them of their demands in writing. The Chief Minister will hold a review meeting after three months to check the progress made and see if the promises have been put to use, said Uike.
The protest by the students was hatched from opposition to the changes in rules of the government’s tribal hostel, which began on August 13. Throughout the agitation, various demands were made on the government that pertained to a number of issues of concern to the tribal communities and students.
The most important demands of their were improvement of hostel facilities, safety of tribal reservations, to recruit people on the vacant posts of the government, recruitment based on reservations under the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act. The protestors also spoke their concerns regarding caste validity certificates and asked for compensation to the families of the three tribal girls who succumbed to snake bites at an ashram school in Gadchiroli, Chitnal district.
Those who took on hunger strike at the Manjari tribal hostel have latter decided to abandon agitation after receiving written assurances to them from the Minister Uike, said Shweta Irnak.
Student Nisha Sable had also raised their concerns to Rahul Gandhi during his visit to Pune and thus the issue had garnered political attention. Gandhi then asked Chief Minister Fadnavis to step up and solve the problem.
The students agreed to discontinue their hunger strike after it became evident that their demands have been accepted by the government and the assurances will be reviewed in three months.