Udupi: On one fateful day, the residents of the government colony in Kuttetturu Village, who were daily wage labourers, had left to work only to return and find their homes demolished and their belongings dumped near a tree. It has been 23 years since then. MRPL initiated the forceful displacement of the residents of the government colony in Kotteturu taluk and no compensation has been paid till date, informed Dr Ravindrananth Shanuhag, president of Human Rights Protection Foundation Udupi.
Narrating the story of the residents, Dr Ravindranath Shanubhag said that on 31-08-1972 Subraya Acharya, a land less labourer was allotted 3 cents of land in survey no 175/2 in Kuttetturu village of Mangalore Taluk. The D notice pertaining to the said land was signed and handed over to him by the Tahsildar himself. Upon availing a loan of Rs 400/- from Karnataka Housing Board, Subraya Acharya constructed a house. Similarly, 10 other residents, all landless labourers, in the said colony availed loan to construct their homes in the land allotted to them, being portions of Survey Number 175/2, and they remained in peaceful possession of the said properties for close to 2 decades.
In the year 1989, the government decided to acquire about 800 acres of land for the purpose of establishing MRPL. Acquisition proceedings were accordingly initiated and as a result all housing sites falling in Survey Number 175/2 were notified for acquisition. However, without following due process of law, the residents of the said colony were forcefully evacuated from their homes and the houses were demolished in their absence when they had gone for work. 11 such residents lost their homes abruptly, without any form of prior intimation or compensation being provided. As per the scheme such a displaced person was promised Rs 20000/-, relocation to an alternate site in a colony in Chelyaru village, monetary compensation and employment for one person in the MRPL project itself. For those not opting for employment in MRPL, compensation of Rs 1,50,000 was stipulated.
Those residents who actually received the rehabilitation package were promptly relocated to Chelyaru village. However, Subraya Acharya and his fellow residents continued to wait for the rehabilitation package offered to them, but there was no progress in that direction.
On 12.05.1992, while some residents of the government colony in Kotteturu had left for work, Subraya Acharya had gone to the hospital in regard to his asthma. The colony was virtually empty as everyone had gone out for their day to day activities. At such a time, the bulldozers under the mandate of the MRPL project entered the colony and demolished the homes of Subraya Acharya and the co-residents who were yet to receive their rehabilitation package. When Subraya Acharya and his co-residents were back, they were shocked to find only debris where their homes existed, all their belongings were mercilessly thrown around a tree in the village.
Even the exact locations of the said homes were not known to the residents given the extent of damage caused by the bulldozers to their homes. Only an Ashwatha tree still stood and based on that, Subraya Acharya guessed where his house was and collapsed on the place coming to terms of this home being demolished. Tukramma, Appi Poojary, Kamalakka and other residents of the colony identified the remnants of their demolished homes like windows, doors, etc. from the debris and gathered the same.
Following the said demolition, it became almost a fulltime job for Subraya Acharya and other such displaced residents to go to the land acquisition office and the MRPL office seeking compensation. However, MRPL and the land acquisition authorities refused to provide any rehabilitation unless the displaced residents furnished proof of title. The title deeds, which were not given much importance, were part of the debris following the demolition.
Being illiterate, the displaced residents did not know how to obtain the title deeds which were destroyed during the demolition. However, upon obtaining a confirmation deed, Subraya Acharaya was relocated to an alternate site. The monetary compensation and the compensation in lieu of not opting for MRPL employment were never provided.
The other residents namely Appi Poojary, Kamala Poojary, Balakrishna Naik, Nagappa Moily, Marcel D’Souza, Bhavani Poojary and Thimmu Poojary were provided no relief whatsoever, not even relocation. Out of them Appi, Kamala, and Marcel D’Souza have long since passed away. One Mary who was staying in a shed provided by the local church passed away three months ago. The whereabouts of Dhoomanna’s son, Tukramma and Balkrishna remain unknown.
For the past twenty years, many public interest organisations have written to MRPL. PA Jose, deputy general manager, has written to the state Human Rights commission complaining that the said organistions are harassing MRPL.
For the past 13 years Basruru Balekedara Vedike, Human Rights Protection Foundation of Udupi and Mulki Balekedarara Vedike have been tirelessly writing to the relevant government authorities and MRPL, regarding rehabilitation for the displaced residents but without any results.
In the year 2006, after having conceded to the entitlement of the said displaced residents, Santhosh Kumar Kadri PRO of MRPL through a letter dated 20-12-2006 assured that upon the special land acquisition authority certifying Subraya Acharya’s claim and his title as being correct, MRPL would facilitate suitable rehabilitation package to be provided to him.
The Karnataka Housing Board through its letter dated 23.05.1992 intimated that since the displaced residents had availed loan to construct homes, they had mortgaged the properties by way of deposit of original title deeds and subsequently, the said deeds pertaining to the land of the displaced residents were with the Karnataka Industrial Development Board. These details are availed by us under the RTI Act 2005 and were forwarded to the State Human Rights commission.
It is seen from the details obtained that displaced families own a sum of Rs. 1,38,135/- to the Karnataka Housing Board in lieu of the loan availed by them to construct the homes. Accordingly the Special Land Acquisition Authority, MRPL should pay the said dues to the Karnataka Housing Board so as to get the original title deeds released which will then result in the rehabilitation package being released to the displaced residents.
In a letter dated 28-07-201, the Special Land Acquisition Authority took strong exception to the fact that MRPL was yet to release the said amount to the Karnataka Housing Board to facilitate the release of the original title deeds in respect of the homes of the Authority and MRPL. The Special Land Acquisition Authority reminded MRPL several times thereafter to facilitate repayment of the dues to the Karnataka Housing Board, but no avail.
Far from repaying the amounts to the Karnataka Housing Board, MRPL instead requested the Board to waive of the repayment of the loans due to it. The management of MRPL fails to realise that their request reflects poorly on the Birla Groups sense of integrity or concern.
Out of the 11 families displaced from the demolitions, members of 5 such families have already died. Before the others too pass on, we suggest MRPL Authorities to release the rehabilitation packages to the displaced families along with interest, he said.
