Former minister H Anjaneya alleges irregularities in allotment of KMERC houses in Karnataka

Chitradurga: KPCC vice president and former Karnataka minister H Anjaneya has accused Holalkere BJP MLA M Chandrappa of including the names of his supporters in the beneficiaries' list for the houses built by Karnataka Mining Environment Restoration Corporation (KMERC) for the mining affected and the houseless poor in the mining areas.

Speaking to reporters here on Monday, Anjaneya said, "Many names included in the beneficiary list are from the villages beyond the five-km radius of the mining area, which is a violation of the Supreme Court order and the KMERC guidelines. Also the list was prepared without holding gram sabhas and threatening the PDOs. The list is before the deputy commissioner for his approval, he said and urged the DC not to clear the list.

"The houses were allotted to villages in 14 of 17 GPs which are beyond the five-km radius rule. The competent authority should suspend the PDOs and the taluk panchayat executive officer for violating rules/guidelines while preparing the list," he demanded.

"The allotment of KMERC houses is against social justice. Of the 365 houses, 300 of them were allotted to the Bhovi community alone. Lingayats, who are in large numbers in the Holalkere constituency, got just 20 houses while Sudugadu Siddas received 16, Nayak 8, Gollas 5, Devang 4 and only two houses were allotted to Chalavadis. The MLA did not consider the deprived classes like Madiwala, Savita, Lambani, Uppara, Korama, Muslims for allotting KMERC houses," Anjaneya charged.