Four organisations staged protests and submitted memorandums to the government through the district administration here on Tuesday in support of their demands.
The first protest was staged by progressive associations against the alleged failure of the Vijayapura City Corporation to maintain roads. The activists planted a sapling at the Mahatma Gandhi Circle where a pothole had developed. They urged the corporation to take up works to develop roads, which they said, were in a bad shape.
The second rally was taken out by farmers’ unions and agricultural labours demanding better facilities for farmers who were in distress owing to drought. In their memorandum, the protesters said that north Karnataka was facing one of the worst ever droughts. The memorandum demanded that the government pay a compensation of Rs. 10,000 an acre to farmers who had suffered crop loss.
Accusing the government of not making serious efforts to prevent the increasing number of farm suicides, they also demanded that the government offer jobs to the relatives of the kin of the deceased. The activists said that agricultural labourers were migrating to neighbouring States in search of jobs owing to the drought in Karnataka. The memorandum urged the government to take up works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and increase the wage to Rs. 300 and working days to 200.
The third protest was staged by trainers in the Sports Department who also submitted a memorandum to the government demanding regularisation of their services. They claimed that the trainers had been working for the last two decades for meagre salaries.
The forth protest was taken out by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad who accused the government of not ensuring facilities at government hostels.
