K. Ranganath TOI

KOLAR: Work is in progress on 64 houses, to accommodate the dalits of Kambalapalli village in Kolar district, who fled the village after the recent carnage in which seven dalits were burnt alive allegedly by caste Hindus.

With the Karnataka government deciding to shift the remaining dalits from Kambalapalli village, the task of housing them has fallen on the Kolar zilla panchayat. Baladevakrishna, Chief Executive Officer of Kolar ZP is leaving no stone unturned to provide the best possible houses to the dalits. The dalits who are now housed in a makeshift camp near the forest nursery will be provided `pucca' houses built over an area of 4.36 acres of land in Gopasandra village in Chintamani taluk.

Deputy Commissioner of Kolar Syed Zameer Pasha who identified the land asked his colleague Baladevakrishna to supervise the construction work.

The houses were originally planned to be built at a cost of Rs 40,000 per house, but with Baladevakrishna opting to provide proper amenities and t modern technology the cost was revised to Rs 50,000 per house. Intending to make the new campus a `model village', he has asked an architect from Bangalore to help in the construction.

In all, 64 houses were being constructed besides an anganwadi centre, a school building and a community hall and the total construction cost would be around Rs 50 lakh. The state government has already released sufficient money to the Social Welfare Department which is the operating agency for the construction of the houses through the `Nirmathi Center' in Kolar.

Training is being imparted to women in various arts on a priority basis. As a first step, 20 women are undergoing training in tailoring and the government intends to train more men and women in the art of weaving. The setting up of a power loom unit is also under consideration. The government plans to provide milch animals to each of the families after they occupy the houses in the campus.

District Social Welfare Officer has been camping at the site since one month, to supervise the works. The houses are to be completed before August 15 and 50 per cent of the work is complete and Social Welfare Minister Kagodu Thimmappa and district in-charge minister V. Muniyappa visited the site and expressed their satisfaction with the progress of work.

Baladevakrishna told The Times of India on Wednesday that the built up area of each house was around 3.40 square metres and the construction materials, except the foundation stone were being provided through the `Nirmithi Centre'. Since construction materials are locally procured, the unit cost of the house is low and the beneficiaries will be provided with advanced 'pucca' houses, he said.