The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) and Hasiru Sene have staged a protest against the present alignment of the power grid lines cutting across their farms in Mysuru taluk. They assembled in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office on Monday and urged the authorities to intervene and get the alignment changed as it affected their livelihood.
Members of the KRRS and Hasiru Sene alleged that the existing alignment allows high tension power lines to cut across some villages. These include Yachegowdanahalli, Hosakote, Doddegowdanakoppal, Kalluru, Naganahalli, Anandooru, Chikkanahalli, Megalapura, Hundiwadi and Maidanahalli.
They fear that the supporting towers for 440 kV lines will be installed on their fields and render land unproductive. Most farmers who affected by the alignment are small land holders. “Some of them have as small a plot as half an acre and if the cable towers are installed, the land cannot be tilled nor will it have any resale value,” the agitating farmers held.
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Though the issue was brought to the notice of the Mysuru MP Pratap Simha who had sought a meeting with officials concerned, the latter continue to draw the cable lines, said the farmers.
“The Telegraph Act, 1885, introduced during the British rule is still being followed by the authorities who are a law unto themselves and have brought police protection to get their work done despite the opposition by farmers,” said the members.
Badagalpura Nagendra, president, KRRS, said the original alignment did not cut across some of the villages. “We suspect that real estate developers have influenced the decision-makers to safeguard the layouts and the farmers have now been made scapegoats,” he said. The agitation against the alignment of the power grid lines will continue indefinitely and farmers will take turns to protest on a daily basis, he added.
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