K’taka to develop pvt-style layouts for SC/ST communities

Belagavi: The state govt has introduced the ‘Buddha, Basava, Ambedkar Site Allotment Scheme' to develop residential layouts on par with private developments. Under the scheme, fully serviced layouts with complete infrastructure will be created and residential sites allotted to people from Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) across the state. Announcing the project, public works and Belagavi district in-charge minister Satish Jarkiholi said the initiative will be implemented initially as a pilot project covering 1,000 acres. Speaking to the media after paying tribute to a statue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on his birth anniversary at Dr B R Ambedkar Park in Belagavi, the minister said this is the first such experiment in the country. A grant of about Rs 20 crore from the SCP/TSP scheme will be utilised for the project, the To start with, 42 acres of land have been identified for the new layouts in Belagavi, Bellary and Mysuru districts. Sixteen acres in Belagavi district, 15.7 acres in Kurugodu town panchayat limits in Bellary district, 5.3 acres in Bokkahalli under Hulimavu gram panchayat of Mysuru district, and 5 acres in Satahalli satellite town in Mysuru district have already been allocated for new layouts. For about 20 years, sites have been allotted to SC/ST communities, but the necessary infrastructure was not provided. A private model will be built for the "Buddha Basava Ambedkar Site Allocation" project using a grant of about Rs 20 crore from the SCP/TSP scheme, Jarkiholi explained. Selection of beneficiaries and site allocation will be done by the respective gram panchayats and local bodies, in keeping with existing rules. PWD will only develop the plots on the land allotted and hand them over to the panchayats or urban local bodies concerned. The minister clarified that PWD will not have a role in the selection of sites or allocation of beneficiaries.