Karnataka - Mangalore   

DSS protest enters fourth day

MANGALORE: The protest by the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (Ambedkar wada) outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office here against the alleged anti-Dalit policies of the State Government entered the fourth day on Monday.

“Our delegates, who are staging a protest at Belthangady, met the Chief Minister and submitted our 19-point memorandum to him on Sunday. If our demands are not met immediately, we will launch a fast unto death from Tuesday,” said district convener of the samiti S.P Ananda. Their primary demand is that the Government should set aside funds proportionate to the population of Dalits in the State in the forthcoming budget and drop plans to introduce a new anti-cow slaughter Bill. They have urged the Government to consolidate the 18 per cent funds reserved for the development of Dalits and Adivasis in local bodies under a single head.

“The 18 per cent reserved fund is presently getting diluted and no substantive development is taking place. These funds are either misused or unused. If there is one single fund, there can be more development,” said Mr. Ananda.

The city unit of the DSS is demanding the regularisation of the services of the 130 pourakarmikas who are stated to be working in the Mangalore City Corporation on daily wages for 20 years.

The samiti has sought a hike in the scholarships paid to SC/ST students and improvement in the conditions of the SC/ST students’ hostels. Pointing to a recent report in The Hindu, he said a majority of the hostels run by the Social Welfare Department for SCs and STs and minorities did not have wardens or cooks.

The memorandum states that the housing sites given to Dalits under various schemes had not reached the targeted beneficiaries. Most of these plots had been encroached upon, the memorandum said and demanded Government’s intervention in clearing the encroachers.

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