Housing and District In-Charge Minister V Somanna on Saturday announced of adopting Keragodu village in Arasikere taluk where the Upper castes imposed social boycott on dalits and promised to take all steps for overall development of the village.
The minister visited the village and held talks with both the communities. He said he came to know about the incident through media and immediately contacted senior officials to get details. He came personally to have a dialogue with villagers. “Social boycott is not good in society. Whatever happened should be forgotten as a bad dream and start living afresh”, he added.
Somanna took officials to task for not providing any facility to village and asked them to prepare a list of things to be done within two days and come to his office at the Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore with the estimates on April 12. The invitation was extended to people belonging to both the communities so that they could discuss the requirements of the village. “Development is not possible if you rely upon on officials. The list of beneficiaries of various projects has not been submitted till date despite several warnings. There are complaints that officials demand money to include names to the list of beneficiaries. Houses at several places have been cornered by rich people. Many houses have been sanctioned to members of a same family. Time has come to whip up such officials”, he added.
The minister said close on the heels of the incident, a few senior officials visited the village and held talks with the members of both communities. However, it was glad to note that the village elders resolved the matter through talks. He would not forget this village in his life. “I will ask officials to sink bore wells in dalit localities under the Ganga Kalyana scheme and also sanction money from his area development fund for the development of Basaveshwara Temple. The villagers are also welcomed to develop the temple further. These are not mere assurances, but they will be implemented within one month. There will be some progress during my next visit”.
Central SC/ST Commissioner Member Shivanna opined that it was not correct to disturb peace on trivial issues. He asked the villagers to put forth their demands so that they would be fulfilled. However, nobody should disturb peaceful atmosphere, he added.
Suspended
Somanna ordered suspension of two officials on the charges of dereliction of duty. They are Nagaraj, executive officer of Taluk Panchayat and Annegowda, secretary of Lakkur Gram Panchayat. The order to this effect was issued by Deputy Commissioner Naveenraj Singh. The two officers were not present in the village at the time of minister’s visit.
The minister said some officers go behind politicians and not attend grievances of general public. Let them go home if they were not interested to work, he added.
Somanna said he would soon launch ‘Grama Vastavya’ to understand problems in each village and address them on the spot. He would not neglect Hassan district at any cost, he noted.
Deputy Commissioner Naveenraj Singh, Assistant Commissioner Nagendra Prasad, Superintendent of Police Amit Singh, Additional Superintendent of Police K Yallappa, TahsildarM K Savita and Deputy Superintendent of Police Parashuram were present.
