BANGALORE: Minister for Fisheries B. Nagaraj Shetty has admitted that there had been discrimination in the allotment of houses for fishermen and said that the mistake will be rectified.

Sanctioned

Out of 2,660 houses sanctioned in 2006-07, the highest number of 140 houses were sanctioned to the Shikaripur Assembly constituency represented by Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.

A total of 240 houses had been approved for Shimoga district compared to 190 for Dakshina Kannada district. Kolar district, which has a large number of tanks, has been given 110 houses.

As many as 350 and 250 houses were sanctioned to Udupi and Uttara Kannada respectively, according to sources in the Secretariat.

Mr. Shetty told The Hindu that there were some lapses in the sanction of houses for constituencies and districts. The Fisheries Department would prepare another list to set right the lapses.

A sum of Rs. 10 crore had been released for construction of houses for fishermen. The department would take steps to sanction houses to eligible houseless fishermen depending on the availability of funds in the present financial year.

A total of 132 constituencies had been allotted 10 houses each.

Demand

In districts such as Davangere, Chitradurga, Dharwad, Tumkur and Chamarajanagar which have a large number of tanks and many families were involved in fishing, the houses sanctioned for the beneficiaries was much less than the demand.

Abhyachandra Jain, Congress MLA for Moodbidri, said that injustice had been meted out by the Fisheries Department in allotment of houses.

No guidelines had been followed in sanctioning houses for fishermen, the MLA alleged.

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