A team of officers led by District Tribal Welfare Officer Basavaraj Karihuli visited the Siddhi Colony in Bhooranki village of Khanapur taluk on Thursday.
Mr. Karihuli held a meeting with community leaders and listed down the problems they are facing. He assured them that the government will extend them all facilities available to them under various government schemes.
Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Rahul Shinde sent the team after hearing them at a meeting of the Border and Rivers Protection Commission in Belagavi on Wednesday.
Siddhi community members, who attended the meeting, had urged commission chairman Shivaraj Patil to direct the State government to take steps for their welfare and development.
During the meeting, community leader Juje Jackie Harnodkar Siddhi said that there are around 10,000 Siddhis in Belagavi district but only a handful of people have studied up to 10th standard.
He asked the officers to stop migration of Siddhi men to Goa and Maharashtra farms and brick kilns. He complained that community members routinely succumbed to curable diseases and snakebites.
He sought the establishment of primary healthcare centres, anganwadi and primary schools in remote areas. He said that the community members are not availing themselves of benefits meant for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as they are unaware of the benefits being made available.
He sought allotment of farmland for landless families and setting up of a sports hostel to promote young talent among Siddhis.
