The Hindu : Karnataka News : Farmers demand 12-hour power supply in the day

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Tuesday, Nov 25, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Farmers demand 12-hour power supply in the day

Staff Correspondent

Davangere: Farmers staged a dharna, under the aegis of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Monday demanding 12 hours of uninterrupted power supply in the morning for irrigation pump sets and restoration of power supply to rural places on par with urban areas.

Led by Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha members Huchavanahalli Manjunath, Vasanth Kumar and District CPI leader J.H. Hanumanthappa, farmers raised slogans against the Government’s discriminatory policy with regard to supply of power to rural and urban areas. Manjunath said that the present supply of power for four hours during the night and two hours in the day was not sufficient for agricultural activities.

He also said that if power supply is there only at night, farmers are forced to go to the fields to switch on the irrigation pump sets. By doing this, they risk their lives because there is a possibility of wild animals attacking them or snakes biting them. Considering all this, the Government should restore uninterrupted power supply to farmers during the day, he urged.

District CPI leader Hanumanthappa attributed the decrease in food and vegetable production in the State to insufficient power supply to irrigation pump sets.

Manjunath said that the agitation would continue till the Government conceded their demand.

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