SHRP demands white paper on rights of Limboo-Tamang

Gangtok, Feb 16 (UNI) Sikkim Himali Rajya Parishad (SHRP) party today asked the Sikkim Democratic Front(SDF) government to issue a white paper on the Limboo-Tamang seat reservation issue in view of the Centre's notification of delimitation of constituencies.

''The delimitation report was inevitable and everybody knew this.

We have been saying that the state government should issue a white paper for the political rights of the Limboo and Tamang communities,'' SHRP spokesperson Biraj Adhikari said at a press meet at the party headquarters.

''The Chief Minister has been repeatedly saying that the Limboo-Tamang communities will be accommodated and we are waiting for him to bring it to reality. But, at the same time, people cannot wait for long,'' he said.

The Bhutia and Lepcha communities had been reserved 12 seats in the Sikkim Legislative Assembly. One seat is reserved for the Sangha community (monk body) while two have been reserved for the SC communities. Remaining 17 seats are general.

The two ethic Limboo and Tamang communities had been declared as STs in 2003 and are yet to be given seat reservation in the Assembly.

As per the Delimitation Commission report on September 4, 2006 for Sikkim, there are no seat reservations for the above two communities in the 32 seats of the Sikkim Assembly. State elections are due in 2009.

The SDF government will be held responsible if the Limboo-Tamang communities are deprived of their seats in the Assembly, Adikhari said.

The state government had already asked the Centre to expand the Assembly to 40 seats in order to accommodate the Limboo and Tamang communities.

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