Bengaluru, June 20 (IANS) Responding to the BJP’s allegation that the housing quota for SCs and STs is being diverted to provide an additional 5 per cent quota for Muslims under the pretext of offering facilities to all minority communities, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and State Congress President D.K. Shivakumar clarified that the government is neither reducing nor taking away any community’s housing quota.

The Karnataka government on Thursday decided to increase the reservation for minority communities in various housing schemes across urban and rural areas of the state under the Housing Department from the existing 10 per cent to 15 per cent.

The decision was taken during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru on Friday, Shivakumar said, “I want to clarify this to everyone. First of all, there was the Sachar Committee report. Secondly, in rural areas, there was already a 10 per cent quota for minorities in housing schemes. However, in rural areas, the scheme lapsed due to the smaller minority population.”

“We were supposed to allocate 10 per cent of housing under the housing schemes to minorities in our constituencies. But if there are no Muslims in certain rural areas, where should we allot them? Can we let that quota go to waste? In many places, we prioritised Scheduled Castes,” Shivakumar stated.

“More or less, 90 per cent of people from the Scheduled Caste community have already availed housing benefits. The new beneficiaries still need to lay the foundations for their houses. Without that, we can’t release funds. So, in view of this, our Minister for Housing, Zameer Ahmad Khan, decided to shift the unused quota to urban areas. That’s all this is,” he said.

He emphasised that there has been no change in the actual quota. The 10 per cent that was earlier allocated for minorities in rural areas is simply being shifted to urban areas. “I personally verified all the details during the cabinet meeting. We can’t help it if BJP leaders are trying to politicise the issue,” he added.

“Can we allow housing schemes to remain underutilised? Even the allocations made to SCs should not go to waste. Once the allotments for SCs are done, we allow the general and OBC categories to avail the benefits. We are not trying to appease any community. Our goal is to ensure equal rights and livelihood for all,” Shivakumar said.

“Let the BJP leaders come and question us in the Assembly — we are ready to answer them,” he asserted.

When asked about Congress MLA B.R. Patil’s allegations of rampant corruption in the Housing Department, Shivakumar declined to comment.

Commenting on Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s remarks that the NDA would soon form the government in Karnataka, Shivakumar replied, “That’s why I said I would gift him a new pair of clothes. Will they form the government? No, they won’t come to power, and they won’t win the election,” he chided.

–IANS

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