Though applications were invited five years ago from Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in the city for allotment of sites under the Vajpayee Ashraya Housing Scheme, the sites are yet to be distributed. In 2010, the government had identified 65 acres of land — 45 acres in Govindapura locality and 20 acres in Gopishettykoppa — for distribution as Ashraya sites for BPL families. It was planned that 2,030 sites would be distributed (1,481 sites in Govindapura and 549 in Gopishettykoppa).
After the completion of land acquisition, applications were invited in 2011 for distribution of sites by the Ashraya Committee of the city corporation, which was the Shivamogga City Municipal Council (CMC) then. More than 17,000 applications were submitted for the sites.
The CMC, which was upgraded to Shivamogga City Corporation in 2013, formed teams comprising officials of its revenue section and bill collectors to verify the applications. According to sources, only about 85 per cent of the verification process has been completed.
Kallur Megharaj, trustee of Shantaveri Gopala Gowda Samajawadi Adhyayana Kendra Trust, which had staged protests in the past against the delay in allotment of sites, told The Hindu that there were no legal hurdles to sanctioning the sites. The land acquired is free of litigations, but it is unfortunate that the site allotment has been delayed for various reasons, he said.
The delay has also created confusion among the applicants and raised suspicion on irregularities in allotment, he said, adding that citizens had stood on queue for hours and submitted documents after facing much hardship to get them furnished in the first place. When Vinay Kumar Sorake was Urban Development Minister, members of the trust had twice submitted to memorandums seeking quick allotment. The secretary of the Department of Urban Development has also been apprised on the issue, but no action has been taken, Mr. Mesharaj said.
