Media Release
Bangalore, Jun 17: Jerardin D'Souza of the Christian Minority Development Council (KSCMDC) urged chief minister Sadananda Gowda to relax certain stringent regulations in allotting funds to Churches, like the panchayats' demand for 10% of the allotted funds. The chief minister immediately instructed to condone the panchayats' demands. He was participating in the meeting of the Council called by the chief minister at 'Krishna', the chief ministers official residence at Bangalore.
Jerardin asked the chief minister to provide an office for the Council at Bangalore and also at some district headquarters. The CM had his reservations and would address it at a later date.
Jerardin D'Souza also appreciated and thanked the chief minister for the initiative taken by the Government in responding to the needs of the Christian Community. He also mentioned the members of the Christian community were happy with Sadananda Gowda and Quoted comments on the internet by a large section of the Christian community.
Jerardin D'Souza also mentioned the Mangalore Bishops appreciation of the Governments deed of funding the needy Churches.
It was decided to give the same benefits of orphanages and old age homes to the organizations looking after the handicapped .
It was decided to increase the funding for renovation and repairs of churches to 10 crores.
Gladys Almeida , member from Udupi, pointed out the needs of Udupi churches.
Kennedy Shanthakumar made many useful suggestions and brought to the attention of the chief minister some lapses.
Antony Mendonca asked the CM to include the cemeteries in the renovation plans.The demand was met instantly.He also asked to raise the income limit for house construction.
The funds released for repair and renovation of churches used to be half of what was estimated, Mendonca asked for this to be fully met. The chief minister graciously agreed to it.
Yesudas, member from Shimoga asked for the Council to be Upgraded to a Board or Corporation for which the CM said it needed some more time to consider the demand.
Vincent Rodrigues and Sumana Gomes, members from Shimoga, asked some pertinent questions and made useful suggestions.
MP Sunny, member, from Chikmagalur enquired about the funds for churches there.
Raju Joeseph from Hubli, Fr Faustine Lobo, Edwin Eranna from Bangalore, were the other members who contributed productively.
It was decided that the Council would meet regularly and the Government would respond well to the needs of the Christian Community.
All the participants interacted with each other and decided to work unitedly for the benefit of the community. By and large, the meeting was very productive.