Of the 3,361 Banjara tandas in the State, the government will soon issue a notification for converting 884 into revenue villages, said Jalaja Naik, chairperson of the Karnataka Tanda Development Corporation.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had formed a separate cell in the Department of Revenue to monitor the conversion process. Tandas with more than 100 houses and a population of over 250 would be converted into revenue villages, she said at a press conference here on Saturday.
Residents of many tandas did not have records to claim ownership over the land on which they were residing. The cell at the Revenue Department would help such people in getting the mandatory documents ready and complete the process of conversion of tandas into revenue villages, expeditiously. The corporation would appoint volunteers to serve as facilitators in this exercise, she said.
The corporation had taken up the work of constructing community halls at 300 tandas in the State. At present, the construction of 80 community halls had remained incomplete.
It had been planned to form ‘Tanda Vikasa Samiti’ comprising educated youths and elders of tandas. The samiti would meet regularly and organise programmes to create awareness among the tanda people about the ill-effects of alcoholism and superstition, she said. There were plans to provide training in horticulture for unemployed Banjara youths. The five universities of farm science at Bengaluru, Shivamogga, Dharwad, Raichur and Bagalkot would be roped in for the purpose. In addition, training programmes on the traditional embroidery work of Banjara community would be organised in the tandas, she said.
Ms. Naik said, the corporation had taken up the project of studying the socio-economic status of Banjara tandas. It had appointed 130 youths as volunteers for the purpose.
The volunteers would study the issues related to the problems being faced by women in the tandas, access enjoyed by the tanda residents to education and employment opportunities and submit a report to the government, she said.
