Ranchi, Feb. 8: The rights of a particular tribe living in Naxalite-hit Garhwa district lie crushed under piles of files along with the 2003 central government order that had granted them the tribal status.

Members of the Agaria tribe, on whom author Veriar Alwin had written a book that goes by the same name, have been running from pillar to post to be recognised as tribals, which will automatically entitle them to various benefits, but without any result.

“We want benefits under the Scheduled Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Act, 2006. But as the district officials did not issue tribal certificates to us, we cannot claim rights under the act. Though we are very poor, we don’t get benefits under Indira Awas Yojana and other schemes,” said Sanichar Agaria, a leader of the community.

Sanichar explained that their tribe’s full name is Asur Agaria, but in government records, they are mentioned as only Agaria.

“On the other hand, the government’s list mentions Asur, a primitive tribal group living in Jharkhand, at the top. We met Garhwa district officials on this issue several times in the past few years but nothing happened,” Sanichar added.

Apart from the 1,000-odd families in Garhwa, Agarias are also found in certain areas of Chhattisgarh, which shares border with the district. “The Agarias in Chhattisgarh have been already given tribal status following the Centre’s notification in 2003. But the Jharkhand government is yet to follow suit,” Sanichar said.

On January 7, 2003, the Union government had issued the particular notification to the states, asking them to add the prefix Agaria to Asur, which already enjoys tribal status. Thus, Agarias were accorded the status of tribals in 2003 itself.

The Jharkhand government had even sent letters to the deputy commissioners, attaching the documents and asking them to follow the new order. But the order was forgotten in bureaucratic bottleneck.

Chief minister Arjun Munda, who interacted with primitive tribal groups at Bishunpur in Gumla on January 20, could not lend an ear to the grievances of Agarias as he was in a hurry.

Meanwhile, personnel secretary Aditya Swaroop said a few members of the Agaria community met him a few days ago. “I have got hold of the Central notification, which has been forwarded to the deputy commissioner of Garhwa with an order to issue certificates to Asur Agarias,” he added.

When contacted, deputy commissioner of Garhwa Rajendra Pratap Sinha said: “I am yet to go through the notification, though I have heard about the same. I will do it soon.”