Tension prevailed at Hosagadde, a village in Sakleshpur taluk, on Thursday when a woman attempted suicide by consuming pesticide in protest against the arrival of Revenue Department officials in the village for recovering encroached government land.
The Hassan district administration allotted 24 acres of land at Hosagadde to eight freed bonded labourers of Ganguru in Arkalgud taluk as compensation. The land was in the possession of 13 families in Hosagadde for several years. When the freed bonded labourers visited the village to take possession of the land, the farmers opposed it and appealed to the administration to allot an alternative land for bonded labourers.
On Thursday, Sakleshpur tahsildar Parvathi and her staff visited the village to conduct a survey under police protection. Residents of the village prevented the officials from conducting the survey. They argued with the officials that they had applied for grant of land. During the argument, Sarojamma, farmer belonging to one of the families cultivating the land, consumed pesticide. She was rushed to the government hospital at Sakleshpur for treatment.
Meanwhile, H.R. Naveen Kumar, president of Hassan district unit of the Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha, said, “The government had made it clear that it will not touch farmers, who had encroached less than 10 acres of land. However, in Hosagadde, tit was targeting those who have only two or three acres of land,” he alleged and added that KPRS would stage a protest on Friday on this issue.
