, Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake on Tuesday directed the District Administration to carry out a survey of the land reserved for backward classes, called the “DC manna bhoomi” in Kannada.
He was chairing a district-level Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes meeting at the District Offices Complex auditorium, here.
Responding to complaints of Dalit leaders that the reserved lands were being encroached, Mr. Sorake said the survey would reveal the extent of the land reserved and how much had been encroached.
Efforts would be made to provide land to the landless Dalits. The problems of the SC/ST communities would be solved on a priority, he said.
To a query, the Food and Civil Supplies officer said he would inspect the location of a gas godown in the SC Colony at Padebettu in Padubidri.
To another query, Mr. Sorake said a few petty shops would be provided to members of Dalit communities at the Malpe beach.
Title deeds
Deputy Commissioner R. Vishal said title deeds had been provided to members of the Koraga community to construct houses in 50 cents of land at Padubidri. The remaining members of the community would be provided land around Padubidri, if they were ready to stay there, he said.
Zilla panchayat member Gopi Naik said ST community members were facing problems due to stone quarrying at Karje village. Mr. Sorake directed Department of Mines and Geology officials to review the quarry order and conduct an inquiry into the matter.
Dr. Vishal said Rs. 14 lakh had been allotted for re-installation of the Ambedkar statue in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office.
Earlier, the Dalit Sangharsha Samiti leaders demanded that the fishermen community should not be included in the Scheduled Tribes list.
They demanded the renovation of Ambedkar Bhavan in Udupi at a cost of Rs. 1 crore, filling the backlog posts in the district, regularisation of Dalit civic workers employed in the Udupi municipality, and construction of an ‘open cross road’ instead of underpass on National Highway 66 at Kirimanjeshwara village.
