Manipal: Around 20 Koraga families including children, women and elderly staged a protest in- front of DC office, Manipal on Tuesday, March 3. “The District administration has failed to rehabilitate our families”, said Srimathi, MSW degree holder still making baskets as she has not get any job yet.
Students were seen doing their homework and a few men were engaged in their professional roles, whilst ladies were busy in making cane baskets. There also also were some pregnant ladies in some families participating in the protest.
Ganesh Kundapur said it is high time, the DC takes action to provide them shelter prior to the rainy season. They also put forward the demand for title deeds.
Background to the protest:
In the year 2006 Suzlon got government approval to set up a windmill manufacturing plant in Udupi district at Palimar, Nandikur, Nadsal villages. In the process, KIADB handed over 60 cents rehab land to the people who lost their land under the project. They had an agreement with the Panchayat regarding the same, according to which every family was to be allocated 2.5 cents of land for housing plots and Rs.1.75 lac for building the houses.
During the process of setting up the wind power plants at Padubidri, more than 55 members from the Koraga families were driven to the streets because of the absence of accountability by Suzlon Infrastructure Ltd (SIL) and the Nadsal village gram panchayat.
Umesh Padubidri and Bhaskar Padubidri – the Taluk panchayat members fought for the land, however the court has stayed the construction. The Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) is bound to provide land and construct houses for the Koraga Community, although till date there is no relief provided to the community.
