The fight for land by agricultural labourers at Kollahalli, Sakleshpur taluk, is expected to go the Diddalli way. Activists who led the adivasis’ struggle at Diddalli, Kodagu district, visited Kollahalli on Sunday and held a meeting with the landless labourers who have put up tents on a plot of revenue land there.
Noor Sridhar and Nirvanappa, members of the Bhoomi Mattu Vasati Hakku Vanchitara Horata Samiti, met the protesters and extended their support for their struggle. Mr. Sridhar said, “We will take up the struggle in Kollahalli along the lines of Diddalli. For many years, the landless labourers here have been appealing to the district administration for sanction of land. The officials have not bothered to address their demand. Even if the landless have put up tents on vacant plots, they are treated as encroachers.”
Furthermore, he said, it is the government’s duty to ensure minimum shelter for all citizens. However, lakhs of poor people have not been given basic amenities. “The samiti will fight for the rights of the poor till their demands are met. We will design the future course of the struggle in Kollahalli within a couple of days,” he said.
As many as 41 agricultural labourers have put up tents on the revenue land. They have been demanding that it be sanctioned to them as they had applied for sites long ago. They have been camped there for the past two months and have resolved to continue their fight till their demands are met. Interestingly, some of the protesters also participated in the ‘Madikeri Chalo’ agitation by the adivasis of Diddalli on December 23.
Salim Kollahalli, a resident of Kollahalli, said, “Some vested interests are trying to get the land, where the agricultural labourers have put up tents, allotted for a private school. However, the protesters are standing firm. The entry of the Bhoomi Mattu Vasati Hakku Vanchitara Horata Samiti has boosted their confidence.”
