PRP urged the government to declare Lambadi thandas as Gram Panchayat

14th Nov, 2010: Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) on Saturday demanded that Lambadi thandas and gudas with a population of 500 or more should be declared as Gram Panchayat.

Talking to media persons, PRP leader Ramesh Naik stated that since the past 30 years, various political parties had been trying to take advantage of the Lambadi community's demands and using them as vote banks. He stated that the political parties conveniently forgot the Lambadis after elections.



Naik stated that the PRP would pressurize the government to announce every thanda in which 500 or more members of the community reside to be declared a Gram Panchayat. He also stated that the Lambadis should be given more opportunities to enter politics since they constitute a considerable presence in the state with a population of about 80 lakhs.

The Lambadis had staged a protest on September 13th by picketing the Secretariat to highlight these demands. The protestors had demanded that the government fulfil its promise it made in 2004 election manifesto of declaring the thandas as Gram Panchayats.

As many as 2,836 villages inhabited by the Lambadis can be declared as Gram Panchayats, if the cut-off figure of a population of 500 or more is taken into consideration.