Farmers’ memorial to be inaugurated today

The renovated memorial of farmers killed in police firing in Nagasamudra village in Bhadravati taluk will be inaugurated on May 25.

It may be mentioned here that when the police opened fire at farmers who were staging an agitation in Nagasamudra village in 1982, three farmers – Mallappa and Nataraja from Nagasamudra, and Basava Gowda from Sanyasikodumagge village – were killed. The deceased were cremated in Nagasamudra and a memorial was constructed to commemorate them.

H.R. Basavarajappa, working president, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), told

The Hindu

that the memorial was renovated recently at the cost of ₹11 lakh. The amount was mobilised in the form of donation from as many as 1,400 farmers from various parts of the State and from the KRRS units of Nagasamudra, Sanyasikodumagge and Sidlipura villages, he said.

A convention of farmers will be organised to mark the inauguration of the renovated memorial that will commence at 11 a.m. Kodihalli Chandrashekhar, KRRS president; Anasuyamma, V-P, and Ravivarma Kumar, constitutional expert, will take part. Issues related to ensuring remunerative price for agriculture produce, problems faced by farmers owing to drought and the delay in conferring ownership rights to farmers engaged in bagair hukum cultivation will be discussed, he added.