Koraput: Members of the Durua community have alleged that they were being deprived of various government schemes meant for the tribals and demanded tribal status for them.

"For the past several years, we have been demanding tribal status for our community. We have staged demonstration demanding tribal status on several occasions, but the government has turned a deaf ear to our demand," said Budai Pujari, president of Durua Mahila Mahasangh.

"As our community is not enlisted in the tribal list of the Centre, we are deprived of several facilities meant for them. Our children are not allowed to get admission in residential tribal schools run by the state government," she said.

Tribal researchers felt that the Duruas were mistakenly kept out of the Centre's list of scheduled tribes made in 1951.

"The list mentioned Dharua tribe as existing in Koraput and Mayurbhanj. But in reality, Dharua exists only in Mayurbhanj, while the tribe living in Koraput is Durua," said researcher Paresh Rath, who has worked extensively on the Duruas.

"Duruas also live in bordering Chhattisgarh where they have been recognised as a tribe. Therefore, a girl from a Durua family in Chhattisgarh is generally not married to a Durua boy from Odisha. If she did, she would lose her tribal status," he added.

The state government has also recommended the Centre to include the Duruas under the tribal category, but the file is pending before the Union tribal ministry, said an official.#Around 17,000 Duruas live in Boipariguda, Kotpad and Kundura blocks of Koraput, while the Durua population in Malkangiri and Nabaranpur districts stands at 20,000 and 8,000 respectively. The Duruas eke out a living by collecting forest produce and doing minor cultivation.'

"Their memorandum will be forwarded to the concerned authorities," said Jeypore sub-collector Loknath Dalbehera.