Revenue Minister R. Ashok stayed at Hulikere in Kadur taluk on Saturday night as part of his village stay programme. He interacted with villagers, listened to their problems, distributed certificates of various benefits and enjoyed music with other elected representatives and officers.
The villagers offered the Minister a rousing welcome. He was taken in a procession from Pillenahalli to Hulikere in a specially decorated bullock cart. The Minister visited Maramma temple in the village before formally inaugurating his village stay programme. He distributed certificates of old-age pension, pension for physically challenged people, ration cards, grant of land and other benefits.
Revenue Minister R. Ashok being served a meal during a village-stay programme at Hulikere in Kadur taluk on Saturday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Addressing the gathering, the Minister said that since the Deputy Commissioner’s village stay programme was launched in the State, 2,770 such programmes had been held. He personally attended 16 such programmes. The Revenue Department distributed certificates of sanctioning benefits to four lakh people in the village stay programmes.
Further, the Minister said the State government had taken many decisions in favour of farmers. The extent of the deemed forest area has been reduced from 9 lakh hectares to 6 lakh hectares. This decision would help hundreds of people get land grants. The government introduced amendments to ensure farmers do not face criminal charges for encroaching upon government land.
Chikkamagaluru MLA C.T. Ravi said the village stay programme was started with the objective of ensuring people-friendly administration. The government had announced a special grant of ₹1 crore for villages where the Revenue Minister participated.
The Revenue Minister, legislators and other people’s representatives took part in the cultural programmes as well. They danced to popular Kannada movie songs.
Kadur MLA Belli Prakash, Mudigere MLA M.P. Kumaraswamy, Chikkamagaluru DC K.N. Ramesh, Zilla Panchayat CEO G. Prabhu and others were present.
