Displaced Koraga families still have nowhere to go

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, June 26, 2012 : Six adivasi Koraga families have been displaced from their homes in Nanthoor because of the construction of the national highway between Mangalore and BC road. The families, who have been living in Nanthoor for the past nine years, now have nowhere to go.

The Dalit Rights Committee, which has taken up their cause, wrote a letter to Dr. N. S. Channappa Gowda, the DC of DK district, that these families have not only been displaced, but also given a small amount as compensation. Although they have been displaced 18 months back, they have not yet received any land sanction document. Neither the district administration nor the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has responded to the problems of these families, the letter stated.

Krishnappa Konchadi, member of the Dalit Rights Committee and leader of the Karnataka State Adivasi Hakkugala Samanvaya Samithi, said that the district administration ignored the protest march held from Nanthoor to the DC’s office to bring the government’s attention to this issue. Instead, the district administration told the protestors that nothing can be done because the families had only given up government land, not their own.