Social Welfare Minister H. Anjaneya has decided to celebrate the New Year 2015 by staying in a tribal hamlet of Kollegal taluk of Chamarajanagar district.
About 80 tribal hamlets located in the forest areas of Kollegal taluk have been denied of all basic facilities, including electricity, drinking water, school education and roads.
Addressing the media in Bengaluru on Thursday, the Minister said he would go to Gombigallu, a tribal hamlet of Soligas, on the morning of December 31 and would spend an entire day and night there hearing grievances of the people. A team of officials from the Department would reach the hamlet in a day or two to assess the implementation of various social welfare schemes.
Mr. Anjanya said that on the last day of every month he would stay in one of the tribal hamlets of Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu, Chikmagalur and Dakshina Kannada to hear problems faced by people living in remote areas.
He also added that many welfare programmes have not been implemented for primitive tribal people in Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu, and Dakshina Kannada districts. These districts had a sizeable population of primitive tribes living inside the forests or at villages bordering the forests. He accused the previous Governments of being “indifferent” to the problems of the tribal people.
He also said that steps will be taken to build houses, schools and ashrams and provide electricity and drinking connections in hamlets and lands would be given for tribals under the Forest Rights Act.
Mr. Anjanya does not consider his stay in tribal areas similar to the village stay undertaken by former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.
