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“Look at the situation that has come, the government has to buy land for the purpose of cemeteries. Last year alone the government spent Rs 50 crore to buy lands for the sake of cemeteries. Having been repeatedly granting lands for various purposes over the years, the situation has come for us to buy the land for cemeteries,” he lamented.
Also there is no space to provide playgrounds for children, and establishing power stations, hospitals and anganwadis, Gowda said, responding to a question raised by Harihar BJP MLA Harish B P during ‘question hour’ in the Legislative Assembly. “There are applications seeking land for 12,000 anganwadis, which we have not been able to provide. I was pulled up by the Chief Minister (Siddaramaiah) for this in a recent meeting,” he said. By granting the limited land that is available with the government, the situation has come to such a pass that there is shortage of land for public utilities, cemeteries, schools and anganwadis, the Minister added. Deputy Leader of the Opposition Arvind Bellad said the problem concerning cemeteries can be addressed with proper urban planning. “The fundamental problem is that land for cemeteries and playgrounds is not earmarked while doing the urban planning. This needs to be addressed,” he said. Responding to another question by Hagaribommanahalli JD(S) MLA Nemiraj Naik regarding the availability of government lands, the Minister said the revenue department has put together a registry. “We have developed an online app.
There are 14.5 lakh acres of government land in Karnataka. We now have village-level data with digital maps,” Gowda said. Further stating that the “land beat” programme is being done, as per which the village accountant will have to verify and report any encroachments of government land, the Minister said the authorities have been instructed to remove encroachment of cemeteries and lakes on priority.