Dalits urge police to save DC manna land

Mangalore Police Commissionerate had convened a monthly meeting to redress the grievances of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes people.

A Dalit leader at a meeting here on Sunday sought the intervention of the police on saving 19 cents of Depressed Class manna land (reserved for Dalit community) at Derebail, which he claimed had been converted as government land by the Revenue Department.

Mangalore Police Commissionerate had convened a monthly meeting to redress the grievances of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes people.

S.P. Anand, a leader of Dalit Sangharsha Samiti (Ambedkar Vada), told senior police officials at the meeting that they should ask the Revenue Department authorities if they could convert DC manna land as government land.

Mr. Anand said the police should protect the properties meant for Dalits. He said that once the records of DC manna land were converted as government land, Dalits would be deprived of the land reserved for them.

He claimed that a lobby was attempting to encroach upon a land belonging to Umanath Karkera, a Dalit at Kadri. He had been living there for the past 75 years.

Mr. Anand sought police intervention in preventing the lobby from succeeding in their attempts.

He said that some artistes at a cultural programme organised by Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy at Town Hall here recently had used the word “dikka” (a low level attribution to a Dalit).

The academy had organised the programme to present its annual book and honorary awards. Action should be taken against those who used the word, Mr. Anand said.

Ramesh Kotian, an activist of DSS (Ambedkar Vada), said the police had not arrested a key accused in the alleged murder of a person belonging to Koraga community at Kavoor recently.

Sadashiva, a Dalit activist, asked the police not to permit “koli anka” (cock-fight) during “nemotsavas”. “Koli ankas” gave scope for criminal activities, he said.

The police officials said that they would look into the issues raised by Dalit leaders and activists.

Earlier, Mr. Singh paid respects to Radhakrishna (56), a head constable with district armed reserve (DAR) here, who died on Saturday night following illness.