Mangaluru: State Minister for Revenue R V Deshpande has instructed Dakshina Kannada district administration to take all appropriate measures to dispose all the applications under 94 C and 94 CC in both rural and urban areas, within the next three months.
People in large numbers have already applied for regularisation of their houses built on government land under 94 C and 94 CC of the Land Reforms Act. However, most of the applications have not been cleared yet. Pointing out the reasons for not clearing the applications during the revenue department’s progress review meeting held at Deputy Commissioner’s office by R V Deshpande on Tuesday, June 18, Beltangady MLA Hareesh Poonja has openly alleged that the revenue department officials demanding bribe for clearing such applications was the main reason for them pending. He also said that from the Village Accountant (VA) to Tahsildar, all officials demanded bribe for clearing the files.
Shocked to hear this, Deshpande sought clarification from Beltangady Tahsildar Ganapati Shastri at the meeting. Responding to it, Tahsildar Ganapati Shastri rubbished the allegation and clarified what the MLA had pointed out was completely wrong.
Meanwhile, all MLAs including Mangaluru North MLA Dr. Bharath Shetty, Puttur MLA Sanjeeva Matandoor, Bantwal MLA Rajesh Naik took the Tahsildar to task questioning on what basis he was rubbishing the allegation. Ganapati Shastri challenged that he was prepared to resign if it was proven that he had taken atleast Re. 1.
On hearing this, Deshpande directed Deputy Commissioner of the district, Sasikanth Senthil to conduct a spot inspection at Beltangady along with Tahsildar and Assistant Commissioner to verify the allegation within three days. Meanwhile, Deshpande directed stringent action against the VAs and revenue inspectors if found guilty of taking bribe from anybody for clearing applications.
‘Rs 122 Crore need for drinking water’
Prior to this, Minister Deshpande asked the officials about the status of drinking water needs in Dakshina Kannada district. The Dakshina Kannada District In-charge Minister and State Minister for Urban Development and Housing U T Khader informed that though the Thumbe vented dam’s water storing capacity is 7 metres, now it is being stored up to 6 metres only. “If the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) takes measures to maintain storage at the stipulated level of 7 metres, several acres of land belonging to hundreds of farmers will get submerged. If we go ahead with the plan of storing 7 metres of water, then government will have to earmark around Rs 122 Crore to provide compensation to the victims. Hence, in order to meet the drinking water needs of the people, government should release Rs 122 Crore as compensation,” he explained.
‘Issue notice to land encroachers’
When Mangaluru South MLA Vedavyas Kamath pointed out the issue of silt-filled stormwater drains claiming that such drain would pave way for artificial flooding in the city, Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil informed that major portion of the storm water drains were encroached upon by the private persons in several areas in city. Responding to it, Deshpande asked the DC to issue notices to those who had illegally encroached government lands and take action against them.
MLC Ivan D’Souza, Zilla Panchayat President Meenakshi Shantigodu, Chief Executive Officer Selvamani R among others were present.
