Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada district unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has urged the state govt to immediately distribute 229 acres of DC Manna land reserved for Dalit communities in the district to landless Dalits.
Currently, there are about 8,552 acres of DC Manna land in Dakshina Kannada. Around 5,871 acres of DC Manna land have been distributed to Dalits. More than 806 acres of DC Manna land have been encroached upon and are under the possession of powerful individuals, and govt departments have encroached upon about 608 acres. About 552 acres of DC Manna land have been sanctioned to others. The Dakshina Kannada district administration states that currently about 229 acres of DC Manna land are available, he said, and demanded a survey to ascertain the DC Manna land encroached upon by individuals and institutions.
However, even after three years have passed since the announcement, the Congress govt still lacks the political will to distribute DC Manna land to Dalits, he said. Even though a cabinet meeting was held recently in Mangaluru, Dalits had hoped that a decision would be made in the meeting to grant them land. However, he was deeply disappointed that the Congress govt did not provide DC Manna land.
BSP state general secretary Kanthappa Alangar told reporters on Tuesday that in its manifesto for the previous assembly elections, the Congress had promised and announced that it would distribute DC Manna land to Dalits.
Referring to the new Central Market complex, he said that 24.1% of the commercial space in the building should be reserved for SC and ST communities as per the reservation policy by the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC).