The farmers demanded compensation for crop losses sustained during last year’s floods.
Farmers in Belagavi in north Karnataka staged an agitation as Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa landed in the city on Tuesday to review the damages caused by the recent floods. The farmers were demanding delivery of compensation promised by the state government for the crop losses sustained due to floods in 2019. They also shouted slogans against the government decision to amend the Land Reforms Act that paved the way for use of agricultural land for industrial and other purposes. The state government had amended provisions of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961 through an ordinance in June. The farmers had gathered outside the Belagavi Airport shortly before the CM arrived. But the majority of the protesting farmers could not interact with the CM as he got into the helicopter again and did not take the road. A few of them had gained access inside the airport but were halted by security staff five feet before they could meet the CM. “We’re protesting over the lack of government intervention at a time when Malaprabha and Ghataprabha are flooding their banks and farmers are losing their crops. So far, we haven’t got any compensation for last year’s floods either,” Sidagouda Modagi, Bharatiya Krishi Samaj state president, told TNM. He added, “The changes in the land reform laws are only to benefit the corporates at the expense of small farmers who are dependent on their land.” TNM was unable to get a response from the CM’s office. The CM visited Belagavi on Tuesday to perform an aerial survey of the three rain-hit districts in the state’s northern region and assess the damage caused by flash floods and overflowing rivers. Yediyurappa flew to Belagavi in a helicopter from Bengaluru along with Revenue Minister R Ashoka, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi, and travelled to Almatti Dam in the adjacent Bagalkot district to take stock of the situation after heavy rains and flooding of villages near the banks of the overflowing Krishna, Malaprabha and Ghataprabha rivers. An active monsoon has led to heavy and widespread rains in the coastal, central and northern regions of the southern state since June 1, filling reservoirs, lakes and other water bodies in catchment areas. The Chief Minister also reviewed relief operations in the region, where hundreds of people are sheltered in makeshift camps after homes in low-lying areas were submerged. Yediyurappa also offered ‘bagina’ at Almatti Dam, which is brimming with rainwater up to 518 metres as against its full height of 519 metres. Earlier the CM had offered ‘bagina’ to the Cauvery river at KRS Dam in Mandya and to Kabini river in Mysuru district on August 21, after copious rains filled all four reservoirs in the river basin.
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