Farmer’s organisations held protests outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Monday seeking fulfilment of their demands.
The farmers from the Morab hobli of Navalgund taluk submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner P. Rajendra Cholan seeking distribution of proper compensation for farmers who suffered losses due to unseasonable rain in the district. They alleged that there were mistakes in the distribution of the insured amount for farmers under the weather-based crop insurance scheme. In Morab hobli, the farmers had paid a premium of Rs. 5.81 lakh. But, only Rs. 19.41 lakh was released as compensation under the weather-based insurance scheme. The farmers wanted to know the reasons for the discrimination. They alleged that the officials did not calculate the losses properly and submitted incorrect data.
The BJP Raita Morcha sought compensation for farmers whose standing crops were damaged due to adverse weather conditions. Office-bearers of the morcha alleged that the officials were not considering the losses below 50 per cent for distribution of compensation. They said the Union government’s new guidelines had provisions to give compensation to farmers who suffered a minimum of 33 per cent loss of the standing crop. The State government should take corrective steps, they added.
The protest by the Dharwad Zilla Bada Raitara Horata Samiti, a forum of small land holders, was against the alleged move by government officials to evacuate them from forest land. Lawyer B.D. Hiremath, who led the agitation, said these small land holders had been cultivating on the land adjacent to the forests since 1978.
Some of them were given land rights by the government under the ‘Grow More’ scheme in 1953-54. The Union government had also issued a notification regularising the lands up to three acres for each of these farmers.
However, Forest Department officials had started issuing notices to them now.
Farmers from the Morab hobli of Navalgund taluk seek more compensation for crop loss
Dharwad Zilla Bada Raitara Horata Samiti protests against harassment by officials
