Angry members of the Zilla Krishik Sangha, who were staging a dharna outside the district offices complex here on Saturday, entered the complex after the Deputy Commissioner did not come out to accept their memorandum.
These members had sat on a dharna at the Satyagraha Katte outside the district offices complex at Rajatadri here. Their demands included waiver of farm loans by the State government not just cooperative and nationalized banks but also from other sources, extension of crop loan from paddy to horticultural crops, extension of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to all agricultural activities, and protection of crops from attack by wild animals.
They wanted the Agriculture and Horticulture Departments to publicize the facilities available to farmers in the newspapers regularly. They demanded that farmers who had crossed 60 years to be given monthly pension. They sought construction of small dams and lift irrigation projects against the rivers in the district and vented dams to prevent the intrusion of salt water. They opined that no farmer would leave his lands fallow in the district if their demands were met. The farmers were sore at their problems being ignored by both the elected representatives and officers.
When the Deputy Commissioner G. Jagadeesha did not come out to accept their memorandum that the farmers wanted to submit to him, the farmers barged into the lounge of the deputy commissioner’s office in the district offices complex and started shouting slogans against the Deputy Commissioner. They insisted that Mr. Jagaeesha come and accept their memorandum.
Later, when Mr. Jagadeesha came to the lounge, he questioned how the farmers were allowed to enter the lounge. There were heated exchanges at this and Mr. Jagadeesha left without accepting the memorandum. This angered the farmers even further and they continued shouting their slogans against the Deputy Commissioner.
Then after some time, the memorandum was accepted and the protesters left the venue. “We left after the Administration promised to look into our demands,” said Ramakrishna Sharma, President of the Sangha.
