Karnataka - Bijapur   

Slum dwellers seek immediate rehabilitation

Staff Correspondent

BIJAPUR: Slum dwellers, who lost their shelter in the recent road widening work in Bijapur city, laid a siege to the district office of the Karnataka State Slum Clearance Board here on Thursday.

The agitators gathered under the banner of the Bijapur Slum Development Committee in front of the board office and demanded, among other things, their immediate rehabilitation. The committee office-bearers, Prabhugouda, Akram Mashalkar and Rev. Vincent (head of the St. Annamma Church), who led the protest, said 520 families had lost their shelter.

While evicting them, the district administration had promised that they would be given sites and house construction grant but the promise had remained unfulfilled.

The slum board was asked to get the houses constructed. Some houses were constructed but the board officials distributed them to others.

The officers cited norms when the needy asked for assistance where as they provided benefits to others by flouting all rules, the office-bearers alleged.

The agitators were also annoyed with the alleged apathy of two board officers from the headquarters (Basappa and Somashekhar), who toured Bijapur and Bagalkot districts on Monday through Wednesday.

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