JAGATSINGHPUR: The President’s Secretariat, New Delhi has recently directed the Odisha government to take appropriate action regarding the issue of caste certificates to tribals in Odisso village of Jagatsinghpur district, which has reportedly been stopped for a year now.
Last week, Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Rashtrapati Bhawan RK Sharma directed the Chief Secretary to take appropriate action regarding the matter after a petition was filed by a Scheduled Caste leader Sankar Das seeking intervention of President of India in this regard, in January this year.
Das, in his complaint, had alleged that nearly 300 tribals belonging to Matya community in Odisso village under Jagatsinghpur tehsil were not being issued caste certificates since last year.
Sources said, villagers of Odisso belonging to the Scheduled Tribes with sub-caste ‘Matya’ had applied for caste certificate in 1992 before tehsildar, Jagatsinghpur. They received the documents after due verification.
However, last year local tehsildar Anjali Tarai denied issue of caste certificates to these tribals citing lack of clarity on their sub-caste.