A section of Dalits at Mukunduru Hosahalli in Hassan taluk are up in arms against the taluk administration for allegedly damaging standing crops by digging trenches in the name of clearing encroachment of a road.
The residents allege that the taluk administration neither issued prior notices to them nor allowed the farmers to harvest the crop before bringing earthmovers.
Based on a complaint by a few Dalits in the village that an eight-feet road had been encroached upon by the “upper caste”, the officials of Hassan taluk administration arrived at the village on August 5 with earthmovers and tree-cutting equipment.
The officials removed the fencing set up by a couple of “upper caste” people, but dug trenches on the adjacent plots, belonging to farmers of a Scheduled Caste.
Worried farmers
Gundaiah and Chikkaiah, brothers, had been granted bagair hukum land in the village, where they had cultivated jowar and potato. As the earthmovers dug trenches on their land, the crops on that land were damaged, leaving both families worried.
About 20 fully-grown trees were cut in the name of clearing the road. “As per the official sketch, an eight-feet wide road was existing, adjacent to our land. If the administration had issued notices, we would have agreed to part with the land after harvesting the crop. But the officials came and dug trenches for the construction of a 30 ft road, without issuing notices to us,” said Mr. Chikkaiah.
Mr. Chikkaiah claimed he had requested the officials not to cut trees and requested them to allow some time to harvest the crop.
“They pushed me down and damaged the crop. Moreover, we have records to show our ownership on the land,” he said.
Members of fhese families are suspecting the role of a person, also a relative, in targeting their crop because of a panchayat election-related dispute.
Following a protest staged by the family members, E. Vijaya, Assistant Commissioner (Hassan), visited the village and issued notices to five officials, including Hassan tahsildar V. Manjunath.
‘Not responsible’
When contacted over phone, Mr. Manjunath said the officials were not responsible for the damage caused to the crops or the cutting of trees.
“A section of people in the village had filed a complaint with the taluk-level SC-ST grievances committee alleging that a road had been encroached upon. Being the chairman of the committee, I ordered to clear the encroachment. We have not damaged the crops,” he said.
‘We should have been allowed to at least harvest crops before bringing earthmovers’
Farmers say they have records to show their ownership of the land
