The district administration has identified 348.85 acres of Panchami lands occupied by people other than those belonging to the Scheduled Castes in contravention to the conditions for allotment of such lands.
Addressing reporters after a review meeting at the Collectorate on Friday, Vice-Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) L. Murugan said that these lands were identified by the district administration after a review meeting held on June 23.
As per the instructions of the Commission, the reservations in admissions in private institutions including colleges and schools were increased to 19 % from 12 % since the last meeting. Nationalised banks extended start up loans to 384 persons, of which 97 were from SC community.
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The district administration had been directed to pay ₹ 40 lakh as compensation to the victims in the SC, ST Atrocity cases under the jurisdiction of the Coimbatore Rural District Police. The lead banker in the district had been directed to encourage more number of entrepreneurs among the SC community through MSME. They were advised to procure materials and allocate work contracts to the Dalits.
Based on a complaint, the Mettupalayam Municipality had been directed to give salaries of the sanitary workers through bank credit and also introduce bio-metric system of attendance for them to avoid malpractices.
Officials had been instructed to ensure implementation of full fee exemption for SC and tribal students. Stringent action would be initiated against the institutions violating this order, Mr. Murugan said.
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Mr. Murugan said that all the local bodies were strictly instructed to issue pay slip to the sanitary workers and maintain the minimum wage of ₹ 350 per day.
Immediately after the review meeting, Mr. Murugan received petitions from people.
R. Kanagaraj, a driver worked under consolidated pay for the last 19 years in Bharathiar University, submitted a memorandum stating that he was stripped of his job after his wife Sri Lakshmi Priya had filed a case on irregularities in appointment of Assistant Professors a few months ago. Mr. Murugan said that he had already directed the university to give job to Kanagaraj.
Dalits throng Collectorate
Over a hundred Dalits including women and children thronged the Collectorate and submitted a petition to Mr. Murugan on Friday to retrieve Panchami lands.
They said the lands to be retrieved were in Mettupalayam taluk, Coimbatore North Anaikkatti, Thadagam, Annur, Sulur, Pollachi and Madhukkarai.
They alleged that Panchami lands were encroached upon by Caste Hindus and were converted into brick kilns, colleges and hospitals. They were led by the district office-bearers of Samooga Needhi Katchi.