Mangaluru: Farmers lay siege to DC office, accuse govt of murdering farmers

Mangaluru, Aug 4: Protesting against the controversial amendment to Land Acquisition Act by union government and demanding the state government to waive off loans taken by farmers and to issue interest free loans afresh, a large number of farmers on Tuesday staged a protest in front of the office of Deputy Commissioner in Mangaluru.

Addressing the protesters, Kodihalli Chandrashekhar, Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha (KRRS) and Hasiru Sene leader, said the series of farmers’ suicides in the State and country strongly indicate the failure of the system.

“We call it murder of the farmer, with the government, the bureaucracy, the industries and corporate lobbies jointly failing the agrarian society by pursuing a pro-elite policy,” Mr. Chandrashekhar said.

He said politicians, bankers, bureaucracy and others were responsible for farmers’ suicides, as they were the ones who drove the farming community to such a situation. Mr. Chandrashekhar said since it was forced suicide, it amounted to murder.

More than 150 farmers laid siege to the gates of the district administration office for over two hours. Later, Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim received a memorandum from the farmer leaders.

Mangaluru Bar Association president S.P. Chengappa said politicians, instead of understanding the reasons for suicides, had given flimsy reasons such as love failure and impotency.

Kumara Subrahmanya Shastry, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha Hasiru Sene state Secretary, accused that the district administration has kept the farmers in the dark, by not giving them the real information on the inundation area with regard to new Thumbe vented dam. The district administration has said only 250 acres will be inundated. But, through an RTI query, the Sangha has found out that 1083 acres will be inundated,” he observed.

He said the private companies have been given permission by the district administration to generate electricity and several dams are being constructed across River Kumaradhara towards Mini Hydro Power Project. The construction of dams has posed a threat to the farming community of the region as the large area of agricultural land will be inundated,” he stated.