In Mandya, ask for underpass, get lathi blows instead!

Traffic on Mysuru-Bengaluru Expressway halted for around 2 hours; cops beat up protesters

NT Correspondent

Mandya: Demand the construction of an underpass and get lathicharged! That was the shocking situation farmers found themselves on Monday when they staged a protest by blocking the yet to be inaugurated Mysuru-Bengaluru Expressway near Hanakere village in Mandya district while demanding the construction of an underpass.

The protesters had been demanding that an underpass be constructed to ease movement of people from one side of the highway to the other and refused to allow vehicles to pass for around two hours. They showed up on the expressway in bullock carts and also claimed that the project was being constructed in an unscientific manner.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Om Prakash appealed to farmer leaders Madhuchandran and Prasanna Gowda to call off the protest but they responded saying that the cops should take up their demands with the relevant authorities first.

An engineer from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) arrived at the protest site and produced a letter to prove that permission for construction of an underpass at the site had been sought in December, adding that work may even start soon. The unimpressed protesters tore up the letter in anger following which the cops detained their leaders and began lathicharging the demonstrators.

Videos of the incident, which have been doing the rounds, show policemen raining blows on farmers mercilessly and dragging them from the main road. The long line of vehicles then started moving on the highway but many farmers remained adamant and continued their protest on the service road.

Taking the law and order situation into consideration, NHAI authorities fired off a letter to the Mandya Superintendent of Police (SP) Yatish N assuring that work on the much discussed underpass near Hanakere would start in a couple of months. Eventually, the protesting farmers withdrew from the service road as well.