Mangaluru : Mangaluru tahsildar Mahadevaiah said government land will be earmarked for various public utilities in all the 55 gram panchayats in Mangaluru taluk within two to three months.

Speaking at a taluk panchayat meeting here on Tuesday, he said that once the land is earmarked, it can be used for playgrounds, schools, colleges, crematoria, burial grounds, or issue of title deeds for the poor, siteless beneficiaries.

He said farmers use shrubs grown on kumki land as natural fertiliser. The farmers also had the right to use leaves and wood on kumki land. However, no construction is allowed on kumki land.

Earlier, Mangaluru taluk panchayat president Mohammed Monu said that though the government had directed all tahsildars to earmark at least 10 acres of government land in each gram panchayat 10 years ago, no progress has been made.

A member said the government land encroached by a few influential persons in Gurpura and Addur needs to be reclaimed.

Taluk panchayat members expressed concern over the delay in release of financial assistance for BPL families to conduct funerals. Sridhar, a member, said the fund has to be released immediately to help the family in distress.

An official said financial assistance under the scheme has been increased to Rs 5,000 from Rs 1,000. Once the fund is released by the government, it will be handed over to the beneficiaries.

The deputy commissioner had recently released Rs 1,10,000, which has been given to 22 beneficiaries. A proposal has been submitted to the deputy commissioner to sanction Rs 17 lakh to be distributed among 340 beneficiaries.

When member Abdul Jabbar raised the issue of incomplete work on an anganwadi building at Ranthadka, assistant executive engineer from KRIDL said the structure is safe and the gram panchayats can complete the work using the fund available under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Not satisfied with the answer, the TP President said that anganwadi building has developed cracks.

The building was built on a pipeline. KRIDL was directed to construct a pillar to strengthen the building and then hand it over to the respective gram panchayat.

Member Shubhalatha said that a few BPL families received ration cards six months ago.

However, no food grains have been sanctioned to them. In a few cases, ration card holders are not able to link their Aadhaar with the BPL/APL cards as their thumb impression is not being accepted by the system.

The official said ration cards of all those BPL card holders who failed to submit their Aadhaar number, have been suspended temporarily. Once the Aadhaar is linked with the BPL cards, then they will get the food grains.

He said that those whose thumb impression is not accepted while linking Aadhaar with the ration card, have to visit the Aadhaar centre and get their thumb impression upgraded once again.

The tahsildar said that the last date for submitting applications under 94CC Karnataka Land Revenue Act, to regularise their land has been extended to November 27. The Mangaluru taluk has received 16,305 applications under 94CC.