The Hindu : Tanir Bavi residents form forum

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 13, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Tanir Bavi residents form forum

By Our Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE Aug. 12. While the Tanir Bavi Power Company has decided to take steps to ensure that it gets its legitimate dues from the State Government, the displaced residents of the erstwhile Tanir Bavi have decided to reconstitute their action committee to fight for what they consider to be their dues from the company.

Twenty-four families of the village, according to the committee, have been rendered homeless. Most of these displaced families have now formed the Tanir Bavi Citizens' Forum by dissolving the earlier committee.

According to the Honorary President of the forum, Ivan D'Souza, Joseph C. Lobo will be its President and Clifford Lobo Vice-President.

The former Tanir Bavi corporator, Srinivas, will be the forum's Secretary, and Ivan Monteiro its Treasurer.

The forum will also have a 15-member executive committee.

The forum, according to Mr. D'Souza, will continue its fight against the "injustice" perpetrated on the villagers by the company, and will represent their genuine interests.

In a press release, Mr. D'Souza said the company had backtracked from its initial promise of jobs for the displaced families. The forum would continue to negotiate with the company and fight for their "rightful compensation".

The village had neither electricity nor corporation water supply for the past three decades.

It was "acquired" by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) in the Sixties as part of the 1,600 acres of land required for the development of the New Mangalore Port.

The "compensation" for the land, despite the promulgation of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act in 1974, was paid to the landowners who no longer lived there. The port, however, "returned" 150 acres of land, including that in Tanir Bavi, to the KIADB.

The village now technically "belonged" to the Board, but the erstwhile residents who continued to live there had no access to municipal amenities.

Before the plant was set up, the company agreed to the demands put forth by the representatives of the families of the village. Jobs were to be provided to one member of each of the 24 families displaced.

The company had chalked out a Rs. 53-lakh compensation package also.

Apart from a "site" in a rehabilitation colony, each family was to have been paid Rs. 1.25 lakh for construction of houses and Rs. 90,000 an acre for the land acquired.

Other families affected by the project were assured of contract jobs.

The company had also agreed to construct a seawall to compensate for the problems caused by dredging.

It had spent Rs. 7.5 lakh towards renovation of a local temple, and had contributed Rs. 4 lakh to the local church. A community hall was also constructed by it.

The company had also agreed to repair the local Government primary school and bear the expenses on the education of children from the displaced families.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

Stories in this Section

Architect robbed in Bangalore

Hospital waste, a major health hazard

`Varsities neglecting classical arts'

`Conditional clearance' for bridge across Tungabhadra

`Consult farmers on allowing GM seeds'

`Expedite implementation of Rozgar Yojana'

Tanir Bavi residents form forum

KSRTC to increase profit this year

Fake marks card racket busted

PU students' body starts study centre