Mysore/Mysuru: Safai Karmachari Commission Chairman M. Shivanna has asked officials not to evict the 35 Pourakarmika families residing in huts for over three decades at Basavanagudi area in Hebbal.

He was presiding over a meeting of Karnataka Slum Development Board (KSDB) and Social Welfare Department officials at Jaladarshini Guest House here on Thursday.

Pointing out that the Commission has the responsibility of protecting Pourakarmikas, Shivanna observed that it is not correct on the part of officials to evict the Pourakarmikas all of a sudden. He directed the officials to make alternative arrangements for Hebbal Pourakarmikas before asking them to vacate.

KSDB AEE Ramachandra said that 35 Pourakarmika families have been living in temporarily built sheds in Basavanagudi area coming under Hebbal Survey No. 165 since 1990. These families were allotted houses constructed under JNNURM scheme at Ambedkar Jnanaloka in Metagalli in 2014, where some families moved to later on, he noted.

Continuing, Ramachandra said, the space where temporary sheds are built at Basavanagudi was declared as a slum area. But after a land survey, the said land was found to belong to MUDA, he said adding that the Pourakarmikas there had not vacated their sheds despite the Government providing them houses. As the land belonged to MUDA, the officials were pressurising the Board to get the land vacated. When the officials went to evacuate the occupants, a localite lodged a complaint with the Lokayukta against KSDB itself, Ramachandra maintained.

Noting that there are allegations that some influential persons were planning to grab the Pourakarmikas’ land at Basavanagudi, Shivanna directed the Social Welfare Department officials to conduct a probe in this regard and submit a report.

AEE Tejashri said that the KSDB does not have enough funds for maintenance of the Pourakarmika Colony near Highway Circle. Repeated pleas to the MCC to take over the Colony under its control has not yielded any results, she said.

She further said that though the MUDA has sanctioned 1 acre and 6 guntas of land at Kuduremaala for Pourakarmika Group Housing Scheme, the land is yet to be allotted.

Continuing, Tejashri said that the Board was ready to distribute 770 houses at Gandhinagar to beneficiaries, but the Government all of a sudden has withdrawn the allotment and as such the project has been stalled. The Board has distributed 871 houses in the city and 1,306 houses to Pourakarmikas across the district, she added. Shivanna said that he will take up the Gandhinagar Colony issue with Housing Minister V. Somanna and make efforts to get back the allotment.

TP Executive Officer Girish and other officials were present. After the meeting, Shivanna interacted with Pourakarmikas at Hootagalli.