11 years on, Dalits still struggling to get houses under BBMP scheme in Bengaluru

1,110 SC, ST, and pourakarmika families in Bengaluru fight for houses under SCP/TSP for 11 years, facing delays.

About 1,110 Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and pourakarmika families have been putting up a fight for the past 11 years for allocation of houses granted to them under the Special Component Plan and Tribal Sub Plan (SCP/TSP) by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). 

The BBMP rolled out this scheme in 2008. In 2013, 1,110 families were identified as beneficiaries based on stipulated criterion. In 2015, two land parcels were identified. The land is currently in possession of the civic body. 

However, despite Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar directing the officials concerned on February 23 this year to grant sanction to start development works to build the houses, no action has been initiated. The civic body has been waiting for clearance from the Urban Development Department (UDD) for the same. 

For the scheme to even reach this level, the beneficiaries had to run from pillar to post pursuing officials, ministers and political leaders. The scheme also faced hurdles when a few farmers moved the Karnataka High Court to return the land. In 2016, the High Court rejected the writ petition. 

In 2020, during the pandemic, the then Housing Minister V. Somanna wrote to the then Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa asking him to hand over the land to the housing department to build a housing complex. Mr. Yediyurappa ordered the same. Later, the order was withdrawn after the Bahujana Vimochana Chalavali, a Dalit organisation, protested. 

S. Gangadhar, convener of Chalavali, who is one of the beneficiaries of the scheme, has written over 500 letters between 2015 and 2024 to various authorities to take necessary steps to implement the plan. One land parcel measuring 22.2 acre bearing survey numbers 24 and 25 is located at Lakshmipura village in Bengaluru North taluk. Another land parcel measuring 7.5 acre bearing survey number 28 is located at Agara village in Bengaluru South taluk. 

Mr. Gangadhar said after Mr. Shivakumar directed the BBMP, the civic body readied the plan. It would cost about ₹42 crore to build the houses. The funds under SCP/TSP are available. Even after nine months of the direction from the Deputy Chief Minister, the UDD is yet to give the green signal to commence work.