Congress, BJP back land mafia in district: CPM

Though coastal districts have got four ministers, it is shocking that nobody is bothered about providing sites to siteless who are wandering from pillar to post for a mere three to five cents of land for shelter since years, said Niveshana Rahitara Zilla Horata Samiti District Convenor K Yadav Shetty.

He was speaking at a public conference organised by CPM Dakshina Kannada District Committee, in association with Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS), Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and other organisations urging the government to distribute sites for siteless and legalise the Bagair Hokum land. About 10,000 applications have been submitted already for sites. The government has sanctioned 2,000 acres of land to MRPL and 1,500 acres to SEZ, but it is not shown any interest to distribute 1,152 acre of land kept for sites to needy. Inspite of submitting memorandums to four chief ministers of the state, the outcome is zero, he rued.

CPM State Committee Convenor Vasanth Aachari felt that it is unfortunate that in Independent India people still have to protest on roads demanding 3 to 5 cents of land. Communist ruled states like West Bengal have become model in this regard, where the governments have taken steps to distribute land to poor. “BJP leader Arun Jaitely hails the financial policies of former PM Narasimha Rao and then Dr Manmohan Singh was the finance minister. It is clear that the policies of Congress and BJP are friendlier to capitalists and industrialists, but not to working class,” he claimed.
Stating that land mafia is very strong in Dakshina Kannada, he alleged that both Congress and BJP leaders are very much involved in it. “Their influence on administration is so strong that if a DC assures of distributing government land to siteless, he gets transferred within days. To reach the government, our fight should be fierce and continuous. The issue should be discussed in next election and protest should be extended to various levels,” he said.

‘Unhealthy’ budget

CPI (M) State Secretary K R Sriyan said that having a shelter is a fundamental right of every citizen. It is a serious matter when an elected government doesn’t answer for the demands and protests of people for a piece of land. “Even CM Siddaramaiah has disappointed people with his ‘unhealthy’ budget. The CM has mentioned about distributing about 20,000 sites to poor, but the fact is that in every taluk of the district, more than 20,000 people have applied for sites. The CM also spoke about providing three lakh houses through housing board. But, former CM Yeddyurappa also had assured it and he never succeeded in implementing it,” he said.   

Earlier, a large number of people from various parts of the district participated in a protest rally which was carried out from Jyothy circle to the Deputy Commissioner office premises. A memorandum was submitted to the Deputy Commissioner.
CPM leaders Krishnappa Salian, U B Lokayya, Balakrishna Shetty, Sunil Kumar Bajal, Muneer Katipalla and others were present.