K. Shivamurthy, Mayakonda MLA, has urged the State government to expedite the process of declaring all human habitations in the State as revenue villages and announce a special package for upgrading basic amenities in those habitations.
According to official sources, there were more than 50,000 human habitations in Karnataka, including Lambani tandas, Vaddarahattis, Gollarahattis, the Haadis inhabited by tribal people but not considered as revenue villages. A major chunk of these habitations had come up in the land belonging to the departments of forest and revenue, besides private parties. Funds were not provided for upgrading basic amenities in these habitations as they had not been declared as revenue villages, he said at a press conference here on Thursday.
He said that basic amenities in these human habitations were in a deplorable state. Residents of these places did not possess title deeds for the land in which they had constructed houses and living under a constant threat of eviction, he said.
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Mr. Shivamurthy said that he had submitted a private bill in the State Legislature seeking to declare all human habitations as revenue villages by amending the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, suitably. The bill would be tabled for discussion in the forthcoming session of the State Legislature. The State government should conduct a survey of such habitations, fix their boundaries and provide title deeds to occupants of the land, he said.
After presenting the Bill, a meeting of senior officials was held at Bengaluru on December 15 in which, Principal Secretary of the Department of Revenue, and Additional Director of the Department of Land Survey took part.
The meeting had come to the conclusion that there was provision to confer title deeds to the residents of human habitations that had come up on forest land under the Forest Rights Act. On the human habitations located on a private land, the meeting decided to acquire such land from private parties by paying suitable compensation, as per the guidelines provided in the Karnataka Land Reforms Act and handover the land to respective tenants, he said.The officials who participated in the meeting were of the view that a special cell should be formed in the Department of Revenue for conversion of all human habitations into revenue villages, a survey conducted to identify such human habitations, fix their boundaries and appoint volunteers to ensure declaration of all human habitations as revenue villages at the earliest, he said.Functionaries of the Congress Goni Malathesh, Habibullah Khan and N.B. Raghupati were present.
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According to official sources, there are about 50,000 human habitations in Karnataka
They consist of Lambani tandas, Vaddarahattis, Gollarahattis and haadis inhabited by tribal people
Such habitations lacked basic amenities and warranted immediate attention, says Shivamurthy
It has been decided to confer title deeds to people who have constructed houses in such areas