Dalit samiti to stage protest tomorrow

MANGALORE: The district unit of Karnataka Dalit Sangharsha Samiti will stage a protest in front of Kemral gram panchayat office on March 7.

S P Anand, district general secretary of the Samiti, told reporters here on Thursday the main aim of the protest is to focus the plight of around 40 families who have been residing on revenue land at Mullottu in the gram panchayat limits in Mangalore taluk for the past 15 years and more.

Anand said the authorities are harassing the families by not issuing them title deeds to the site on which they are residing. These families also do not have access to potable water and are forced to fetch water from a distance. The Samiti has given representations to the authorities about the plight of these families, he said and added that the gram panchayat has not heeded to directions given to them in this regard.

On a move by the Mangalore City Corporation to use the 18 per cent fund set aside for welfare of SC/STs for construction of `daivasthanas', Anand said the Samiti opposed it. There are strict government guidelines on how this fund has to be utilized, he said and added that the civic body headed by Bharatiya Janata Party is channelizing this fund for religious purposes, ignoring the downtrodden sections of society.