Ravindranath Shanbhag, president of Human Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF), said on Wednesday that the Lokayukta had issued a notice to the officers of the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) questioning the nine-year delay in granting sites to 29 tribal families at Kondadi coming under the Bommarbettu Gram Panchayat near Hiriyadka in Udupi district.
Addressing presspersons here, Dr. Shanbhag said that the 29 families, who had come together under the banner of Kondadi Girijana Niveshadarara Sangha, with the guidance of HRPF, lodged a complaint with the Lokayukta in this connection in March 2019, because officers of ITDP delayed granting sites for which title deeds were given nine years ago. He said that a detailed probe by the Lokayukta is needed in the matter. The 29 tribal families, including 23 families belonging to the most backward Koraga community, had to run after the officers to get the sites at Kondadi.
Under a State government scheme for the welfare of tribal communities, the ITDP had selected 2.61 acres of land in Survey No 229 at Kondadi in 2010.
As many as 29 beneficiaries from tribal communities were to get the sites on the land identified. The poor beneficiaries were given the title deeds or allotment letters on August 15, 2011.
Even though the beneficiaries knew the survey number of the allotted land, they could not trace the sites allotted to them and had to approach the project officers several times. Besides, there were no roads or other amenities on the uneven land allotted. In 2012, the beneficiaries were informed that the government had sanctioned ₹ 1.5 lakh for levelling the uneven land and ₹ 97,000 had been released for the work. But no levelling work was taken up.
The beneficiaries approached the Ministers concerned and other district authorities several times but to no avail.
Again, ₹ 3 lakh was released in 2013-14, but its use was not known. In 2018, the government released ₹ 50 lakh to provide infrastructure such as road, water, electricity and drainage for Kondadi Colony.
But to this day no amenities have been provided. And, levelling of the uneven land taken up later had been done in an unscientific manner making construction of houses on the sites difficult, Dr. Shanbhag said.
