Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that he would soon convene a meeting of the senior officials of the departments of forest and revenue to resolve the problems being faced in the issuance of title deeds to farmers, who were indulging in unauthorised cultivation of forestland under the Forest Rights Act.
Mr. Siddaramaiah was speaking after laying the foundation stone for various development programmes at Sagar on Saturday.
The progress achieved in conferring title deeds under the Forest Rights Act in Karnataka was not on the expected lines. The condition in the Act that documents should be provided to prove the domicile in forest region for three generations or 75 years had become an impediment in the process of conferring title deeds. Many farmers were finding it difficult to furnish the documents. These issues would be discussed in detail at the meeting. The State government would initiate appropriate measures to expeditiously complete the process of issuance of title deeds, he said.
On the demand for construction of a 2.16-km-long bridge between Kalasavalli and Ambaragodlu villages in Sharavathi river backwater region, the Chief Minister directed the officials of Public Works Department to prepare a fresh estimate in this regard. The foundation stone for the work was laid by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government in 2009, without allocating any fund for it. According to an estimate prepared then, about Rs. 165 crore was needed for completing of the project, he said.
A few officials of the departments of public works and finance departments in the past had said that the project was not economically viable. The people of Sharavati backwater region had parted with their property when a reservoir was constructed at Linganamakki for power generation. It was obligatory on the part of the government to construct the bridge as it would go a long way in ensuring comprehensive development of the region, he said.
Addressing the gathering, Speaker of Legislative Assembly Kagodu Thimmappa said, about five lakh applications submitted by farmers in Karnataka seeking title deeds under Forest Rights Act were still pending. The officials of the departments of forest and revenue had displayed negligence towards implementation of the Act. Mr. Thimmappa said that he would visit gram panchayats across the district to create awareness on the Act among the members of village forest committees, who had been entrusted with the responsibility of receiving and processing the applications from farmers.The State government had displayed its commitment for the welfare of the poor and the downtrodden by launching the scheme of providing rice at subsidised price for below the poverty line families, and by waiving the loans taken by the people belonging to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Class and Minorities from government corporations.
The government should initiate measures to confer title deeds for small and marginal farmers engaged in unauthorised cultivation of forestland under the Act, he said.Mr. Siddaramaiah disbursed a revolving fund for the members of women self help groups and handed over the title deeds to 800 farmers on the occasion. Minister for Public Works H.C. Mahadevappa; Madhu Bangarappa, Sorab MLA; and Deputy Commissioner V.P. Ikkeri were present
