BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has directed all Deputy Commissioners to hand over government land to the Social Welfare Department for the construction of hostels for SCs, STs, OBCs and Morarji Desai schools in three months.
Helming a meet of district Chief Executive Officers and Deputy Commissioners for a second day on Tuesday, Siddaramaiah said he would hold a review meeting in November and those who did not comply with his orders by then would face severe action. He said in places where government land was not available, DCs should buy land from private persons.
The CM expressed unhappiness over the delay in processing applications for granting title deeds to those living in forest land and directed the officials to reconsider applications that had been rejected. He threatened disciplinary action against DCs who did not process the applications on time and directed filling up of 400 posts of wardens for hostels built for backward classes.
“The government has brought in a law to give rights to forest dwellers. Do not try to wriggle out of it by claiming technical difficulties. You can seek clarification with revenue, forest, law and social welfare departments with whatever problems you are facing and then issue these deeds,” he said.
The Chief Minister chastised the DCs saying one should be a humane enough to help the poor and reiterated that they had to distribute it within the specified time frame of three months. He said they should see to it that it did not reach a stage where the government would be forced to take action against the DCs for non-compliance.
Talking about matters related to the health department, the CM questioned why the number of people accessing facilities at government hospitals was decreasing, despite grants running into crores of rupees.
The CM questioned why a doctor earning `25,000 per month was willing to slog at a private hospital and unwilling to work for a government hospital for a salary of `75,000 per month.
He asked the DCs to see if essential services could be provided at rural level so that people would come forward to work in such regions.