The alleged move of Kerala State Welfare Corporation for Forward Communities (KSWCFC) to divert funds meant for renovation of agraharams of Tamil Brahmin community across the State to other purposes has invited wrath of community members.
The Kerala Brahmana Sabha has said that it will strongly oppose the decision of corporation chairman R. Balakrishna Pillai to extend the scheme to other forward communities too without obtaining government approval and finding additional resources. The sabha said the move was a deliberate attempt by Mr. Pillai to sabotage efforts for preserving the agraharams which have a unique history.
Sabha State secretary N.V. Sivaramakrishnan said the State government had allocating ₹3 crore the previous year for the project to preserve agaraharams. This fiscal, the budgetary allocation was increased to ₹4.4 crore.
Among the 300 applications received by the commission, 180 were approved and ₹2 lakh was sanctioned to each selected house owner with an annual income ceiling of ₹2 lakh.
“Repairs are midway in many agraharams. We are not against providing assistance to poor members of other forward communities. But here the corporation is attempting to sabotage the programme by extending it to other forward communities without government approval and without finding additional funds,” said Mr. Sivaramakrishnan.
“Most of the beneficiaries of the project are in Thiruvananthapuram and Kalpathy in Palakkad. Extending the project to other communities means weakening the project,” said S. Chidambaranathan, Palakkad district secretary of Brahmina Sabha.
He said the community was planning a series of agitations against the move.
