: State Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa today directed revenue officials to take immediate steps to clear the long-pending 'Bagar Hukum' applicationsand issue title deeds to landless cultivators in small plots of government land occupied by them years back.
'Bagar Hukum' cultivators are farmers with no formal and documented ownership rights to government land they had occupied over the years.
The cultivators argue that theyshould be treated as a distinct category of land occupants with traditional rights of use to the land.
The minister, who held a meeting with revenue officials here today, directed them to sanction the title deeds as per the target fixed by the government within two months.
Thimmappa said regularisation of farm lands and houses built on government lands was a priority programme of the state government.
At least 1,000 Bagar Hukum applicationsshould be cleared monthly in each taluk, he said.
He asked Dakshina Kannada district DeputyCommissioner K G Jagadeesha to constantly review the progressin clearing the applications.
The government had cleared onelakh Bagar Hukum applications so far, but three lakh applications were still pending, he said.
A total of 25,000applications were pending in DK district alone, he added.
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