Savitha Suresh Babu for The Hindu

Title deeds for individuals
It will be distributed among 1,200 families in Dakshina Kannada

• Koraga is the most backward community
• A survey is on to identify another 80 acres of land

Mangalore, Jun 23: Koragas, people of one of the two primitive tribes of the State, and perhaps the most backward community in Dakshina Kannada, have something to look forward to.

The district administration has identified 120.06 acres of land to be distributed among the estimated 1,200 Koraga families here. Another 80 acres of land will be identified through the ongoing land survey, A G Bhat, Headquarters Assistant to the Deputy Commissioner told The Hindu.

The survey, started about a year ago, was being conducted jointly by the departments of revenue, forest and agriculture, and Koraga leaders. Forest Department and Agricultural Department officials had been involved to ascertain whether the land identified was suitable for cultivation. Leaders of the tribal community had been included to ensure they approved the land which was selected, since they were the ultimate beneficiaries, Bhat said. The identified land had been reserved in favour of the Integrated Tribal Development Project. This was to ensure that the land was not used for any other purpose, Bhat said.

The names of the eligible Koraga families are being worked out by the committees set up at the taluk level headed by tahsildars. Once the beneficiaries are identified and their claims verified, the “hakku patras” will be transferred to individual Koragas.

According to documents, 16.7 acres of land has been identified in the taluk, 40 acres in Bantwal taluk, 16.55 acres in Puttur taluk, 22.38 acres in Belthangady taluk, 10.96 acres in Sullia taluk and 13.47 acres of land has been identified in Moodbidri.

Apart from this, there is a proposal to purchase 7.5 acres of private land in Belthangady taluk to distribute it among five Koraga families. This is being done through the Ambedkar Development Corporation (ADC).

Bhat said the process of transferring the land to individual beneficiaries was expected to be completed in a couple of months. “We are now receiving lists of beneficiaries from tahsildars. It will take sometime to complete the formalities of ownership transfer,” he said.

“We want the survey to reach its logical end at the earliest,” he added.

Non-governmental organisations have been complaining about the delay in the process of conducting the land survey. Sources involved in the process of identifying the land said it had been delayed owing to differences among various Koraga groups. Sheena Shetty from Janashikshana Trust said though the identification of land was a positive development, the process needed to be speeded up. The proposal to purchase private land in Belthangady for instance, had been pending with the ADC for nearly seven months, he said. Shetty said that along with providing lands, the Koragas should be given titles to lands they had been living on for years.