Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi
With Inputs from Media Release

Udupi, Nov 12: About 29 Koraga community members of Udupi taluk came to know that the government of Karnataka has made a scheme for the development of their community by allotting land to them and the land has been identified and reserved for their developmental in habilitation. In 2010, they submitted their applications to the authorities concerned. Their enquiry for the fate of the status of the application could not be digested by them as it was said that they belong to higher income group category and hence allotment of government land to them is not possible. But the applicants were holding the income certificate issued by the tahsildar of Udupi which established the whole play being engineered by the authorities, said president of Udupi Human Rights Protection Foundation Dr Ravindranath Shanbhag.

Finally, after about 6 months they got information that at Bommanabettu village, Kondady area at survey number 229, 2.61 acre of land was allotted and identified for 29 applicants, the land to be distributed as 8 cents to each of the applicants.

On the auspicious occasion of the Independence Day celebrations in 2011, ministers and MLAs distributed the records of right to the 29 aspirants and they celebrated their success in getting the sanction from government.

"But to their astonishment they could not trace out the land allotted to them and hence had to resort to contacting the project officer for 'Girijana Yojana Adhikari'. Meanwhile, they received information that the government has sanctioned Rs 1.5 lac for the leveling of the land allotted to these people out of which Rs 97,000 was released. Again in 2013-14 information was received that Rs 3 lac was sanctioned for the same project but the fate of the sanctioned amount is unknown," Dr Shanbhag said.

Administrative Sermon

Dr Shanbhag said that on receiving the complaints from the aspirants/allottees to the DC that the land has not been leveled, the district authority gave a sermon stating that it has to be done by aspirants/allottees themselves.

Accordingly the aspirants/allottees collecting fund from themselves and also by laboring themselves tried to level the land but they were unsuccessful in their attempts due to the practical difficulties.

Complaint to Human Rights Commission

"In November 2015, the chairman of Human Rights Commission, Karnataka visited Udupi and the aspirants/allottees gave a complaint to the Human Rights Commission. On receiving the grievances the then deputy commissioner Dr Vishal directed the authorities to address the grievance. It resulted in the DC visiting the site. The allottees /aspirants explained their plight to DC in person but they never heard any response initiated by the DC to mitigate the problem but heard that the DC Dr Vishal got transferred from Udupi," he said.

Complaint to Human Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF), Udupi

"Instead of waiting for government allotment, if the allottees /aspirants had made any approach to purchase a land and construct the house, the construction cost would have been much lower as inflation has risen in the last 7 years. HRPF, Udupi has decide to extend full support to the allottees /aspirants by creating public opinion. HRPF has decide to fight the case till justice is delivered," Dr Shanbhag said.