<p>The residents of 11 naxal infested Gram Panchayats in Belthangady taluk gathered in a large number to share their grievances at the public contact programme of all the departments with the naxal infested villagers at Kolli temple in Belthangady on Saturday.<br /><br />In the programme that was organised by the district administration, a few villagers expressed their wish to stay back in their villages and asked the government for better facilities, while some of the villagers demanded to rehabilitate them from the forest with an attractive rehabilitation package. Coming down heavily on the district administration for not providing facilities to the naxal infested villages, Samapat Kumar from Elaneeru village flayed the officers for not utilising the government funds for the right purpose. <br /><br />“The government has been giving assurances of providing better facilities to our village, but nothing has been realised so far. Now the 37 families in our village have opted to go out of the forest by accepting the rehabilitation package, than staying as mute spectators for the misappropriation of funds by the officers in the name of developing our villages,” he said. He also brought the issue of recurring incidents of the wild elephants destroying the farm land and also demanded the district administration to rehabilitate the families within six months.<br /><br />Add proper value to land<br /><br />Puttannna from Navur village urged the district administration to revise the compensation package offered to the families that are rehabilitated from the forest. “The villagers are ready to move out of the forest only if the government makes proper assessment of the land and offers the right value to it. A farmer who has 20 acres of agriculture land can not afford to leave his land and relocate for a meagre amount of Rs 10 lakh offered by the government,” he stated.<br /><br />Taking a dig at the government for not providing basic facilities to the naxal affected villages, Jayanti from Alambe demanded proper implementation of developmental activities in their village. “Don’t improve others in the name of improving naxal affected region,” came the outright opinion.<br /><br /> A resident from Savanur village demanded for the frequent movement of government buses to his village for which the Deputy Commissioner assured of taking the matter into consideration. Issues pertaining to lack of electricity supply, poor maintenance of solar lights, road connectivity, bridges, drinking water problem were raised in the meeting.<br /><br />Jobs to villagers<br /><br />Earlier, addressing the villagers, Deputy Commissioner Dr N S Channappa Gowda informed that the district administration would stress on providing job opportunities to the villagers of naxal infested areas. As a first step, nine teachers from the naxal infected families have been appointed to different government schools in the region, followed by the appointment of two village assistants and two cooks for Naravi Ashrama School. Measures will be taken to provide jobs to the villagers under MGNREGS, he said.<br /><br />Speaking about the mini hydro power project implementation, he said the unit has already started functioning in Naravi and two more projects will be implemented in Elaneeru and Indabettu soon. The power projects will help to provide electricity to the naxal infested villages. In response to the complaints on bad maintenance of solar lights in the village houses, he said that the non-functioning lights will be replaced or repaired in all the houses within a month. <br /><br />To a query on the rehabilitation of villagers from the naxal areas, he said that 115 families out of 235 families in the district have agreed to come out of the forest. However, the Revenue Department will carry out resurvey of the lands of the farmers who are willing to go out of the forest and then the final compensation package will be prepared. As of now, the government has agreed to offer Rs 10 lakh package per family which will be distributed soon after the government releases the fund, he said.<br /><br />The beneficiaries under various schemes were handed over with the cheques on the occasion. A mobile health unit for the naxal infested villages was inaugurated. MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, SP Abhishek Goyal, ZP CEO Dr K N Vijayaprakash and others were present.</p>.<p>‘No compensation for dept faux pas’<br /><br />A villager from Indabettu complained that the Forest Department has chopped over 3000 rubber plants in Indabettu in 2010, claiming the land as forest land. However, the joint survey conducted by the Revenue and Forest Departments later revealed that it was the revenue land. Yet, no compensation has been given so far to the farmers who lost their plantation, flayed the villager <br /><br />KSRTC jobs<br /><br />Speaking at the meeting, Superintendent of Police Abhishek Goyal informed that the Police Department has received 85 job applications for the posts of KSRTC bus drivers and conductors from the naxal affected villagers. Nine candidates are eligible for the post as they carry the license and have passed SSLC, hence will be recruited. While 21 of the applicants will be given training and recruited in the next phase, he said.</p>
<p>The residents of 11 naxal infested Gram Panchayats in Belthangady taluk gathered in a large number to share their grievances at the public contact programme of all the departments with the naxal infested villagers at Kolli temple in Belthangady on Saturday.<br /><br />In the programme that was organised by the district administration, a few villagers expressed their wish to stay back in their villages and asked the government for better facilities, while some of the villagers demanded to rehabilitate them from the forest with an attractive rehabilitation package. Coming down heavily on the district administration for not providing facilities to the naxal infested villages, Samapat Kumar from Elaneeru village flayed the officers for not utilising the government funds for the right purpose. <br /><br />“The government has been giving assurances of providing better facilities to our village, but nothing has been realised so far. Now the 37 families in our village have opted to go out of the forest by accepting the rehabilitation package, than staying as mute spectators for the misappropriation of funds by the officers in the name of developing our villages,” he said. He also brought the issue of recurring incidents of the wild elephants destroying the farm land and also demanded the district administration to rehabilitate the families within six months.<br /><br />Add proper value to land<br /><br />Puttannna from Navur village urged the district administration to revise the compensation package offered to the families that are rehabilitated from the forest. “The villagers are ready to move out of the forest only if the government makes proper assessment of the land and offers the right value to it. A farmer who has 20 acres of agriculture land can not afford to leave his land and relocate for a meagre amount of Rs 10 lakh offered by the government,” he stated.<br /><br />Taking a dig at the government for not providing basic facilities to the naxal affected villages, Jayanti from Alambe demanded proper implementation of developmental activities in their village. “Don’t improve others in the name of improving naxal affected region,” came the outright opinion.<br /><br /> A resident from Savanur village demanded for the frequent movement of government buses to his village for which the Deputy Commissioner assured of taking the matter into consideration. Issues pertaining to lack of electricity supply, poor maintenance of solar lights, road connectivity, bridges, drinking water problem were raised in the meeting.<br /><br />Jobs to villagers<br /><br />Earlier, addressing the villagers, Deputy Commissioner Dr N S Channappa Gowda informed that the district administration would stress on providing job opportunities to the villagers of naxal infested areas. As a first step, nine teachers from the naxal infected families have been appointed to different government schools in the region, followed by the appointment of two village assistants and two cooks for Naravi Ashrama School. Measures will be taken to provide jobs to the villagers under MGNREGS, he said.<br /><br />Speaking about the mini hydro power project implementation, he said the unit has already started functioning in Naravi and two more projects will be implemented in Elaneeru and Indabettu soon. The power projects will help to provide electricity to the naxal infested villages. In response to the complaints on bad maintenance of solar lights in the village houses, he said that the non-functioning lights will be replaced or repaired in all the houses within a month. <br /><br />To a query on the rehabilitation of villagers from the naxal areas, he said that 115 families out of 235 families in the district have agreed to come out of the forest. However, the Revenue Department will carry out resurvey of the lands of the farmers who are willing to go out of the forest and then the final compensation package will be prepared. As of now, the government has agreed to offer Rs 10 lakh package per family which will be distributed soon after the government releases the fund, he said.<br /><br />The beneficiaries under various schemes were handed over with the cheques on the occasion. A mobile health unit for the naxal infested villages was inaugurated. MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, SP Abhishek Goyal, ZP CEO Dr K N Vijayaprakash and others were present.</p>.<p>‘No compensation for dept faux pas’<br /><br />A villager from Indabettu complained that the Forest Department has chopped over 3000 rubber plants in Indabettu in 2010, claiming the land as forest land. However, the joint survey conducted by the Revenue and Forest Departments later revealed that it was the revenue land. Yet, no compensation has been given so far to the farmers who lost their plantation, flayed the villager <br /><br />KSRTC jobs<br /><br />Speaking at the meeting, Superintendent of Police Abhishek Goyal informed that the Police Department has received 85 job applications for the posts of KSRTC bus drivers and conductors from the naxal affected villagers. Nine candidates are eligible for the post as they carry the license and have passed SSLC, hence will be recruited. While 21 of the applicants will be given training and recruited in the next phase, he said.</p>
