Upa Lokayukta asks DC to solve pathway problems in DK

Karnataka Upa Lokayukta Justice Subhash Adi directed the Deputy Commissioner to come up with a solution for the pathway disputes in the district.

He was resolving cases under the public grievance redressal programme at Zilla Panchayat Auditorium in Mangaluru on Sunday.

Listening to a complaint by Vijaya Prabhu, Kavalamuduru, Bantwal taluk, the Upa Lokayukta said that there were cases in the district where private landowners have blocked the pathway connecting residential sites.

DC Sasikanth Senthil said such problems recur in Dakshina Kannada. Many houses have to be reached through private land and there is no control of either the Revenue Department or the Panchayat Raj on this.

Justice Adi instructed the deputy commissioner to take appropriate decision to resolve the issues.

The Upa Lokayukta also directed the Minor Irrigation Department executive engineer to conduct a spot inspection and submit the compliance report within four weeks on the repair or construction of the collapsed Kalayi-Nelligudde pathway at Kavalakatte, following a complaint by Ganesh Naik.

Action against officials

Hearing a complaint filed by Krishna Suriya of Idkidu, Bantwal, Justice Adi said it is the duty of officials concerned to initiate stern action against those who construct illegal establishments on government land. In this case, the Upa Lokayukta told the Idkidu village panchayat development office to initiate action against the wrongdoers within 15 days or face action by the competent authority.

'Procrastinating attitude'

Justice Subhash Adi observed that the assistant commissioner's order in the case of Ananda, Balyarubettu, was not executed on time. He also expressed discomfiture over the procrastinating attitude by Bantwal tahsildar Purandar Hegde. He asked the Tahsildar why he took one year to refer action in the land regularisation case (Akrama Sakrama) to the Land Grant Committee, even though the tahsildar is the secretary of the Land Grant Committee.

'Verify land records'

Following complaints by hundreds of residents of Jeppinamogaru, the Upa Lokayukta ordered the assistant commissioner and tahsildar to verify the land records of properties belonging to Mangalore Diocesan Bishop Rev Dr Aloysius Paul D'Souza.

A report must be submitted within 20 days in this regard. The complainants alleged that the Bishop has encroached upon hundreds of acres of government land in Attavar and Jeppinamogaru. Efforts are being made to forcibly evict the people residing in the paramboku lands in these areas, they alleged.

Most complaints were related to the Revenue Department. Some cases that were pending for investigation at various courts were not taken up. In some cases, the respondents or the complainants or neither party showed up.

The Upa Lokayukta investigated 108 complaints by Sunday evening.