Wild animals forbids netas from visiting villages in Hanur Assembly constituencies; no politician dares to enter villages after 12 noon

Candidates and leaders are out seeking votes only till 12 noon as the region becomes extremely hot  beyond that point

NT Correspondent

Mysuru: No political leader visits these villages afternoon. No rallies or public meetings take place in those places. People also don’t come out of their houses afternoon. It may sound strange but it’s true.

A few villages which are situated on the fringes of forests in Hanur Assembly Constituency in Chamarajanagar district are not visited by outsiders after noon not due to other reasons but because of the menace of wild animals. The visit of wild jumbos, leopards, and wild bore move freely in these villages without the fear of human beings.

On the other hand, the extreme heat due to the destruction of forests makes wild animals enter these villages day and night in search of food, water, and foliage. While the election fever has gripped the entire state, a few villages in the Hanur Assembly constituency look desolate with no frequent visits of the political parties seeking the votes.

This is the same place where former minister H.Nagappa of the Janata Dal, was kidnapped and brutally killed by the forest brigand, Veerappan, and his gang members, nearly 20 years ago. The notorious sandalwood smuggler was very active in this region and he emptied almost all the naturally grown sandalwood trees in the forests of Hanur, Male Mahadeshwara Hills, and surrounding places for many decades.

Usually, the political party leaders like to hold the campaign after sunset in villages because that was the time when most of the people will be there after working in the fields during the daytime. But that freedom is not there in these villages due to the frequent visits of wild animals. The political parties complete the poll campaign before noon and leave those villages as they did not want any confrontation with wild animals (non-voters).

The Hanur taluk is surrounded by hills and over 100 villages are situated on the fringes of the forests. Important among them are; Ramapura, Lokkanahalli, Bailur, Vodeyarapallya, Martalli, Ajjippura, Meenyam, Bandalli, and Ponnachi. In the 90s, Veerappan attacked the Ramapura Police Station, killed the police personnel, and looted the arms. Since then, this police station in a remote village became famous across the country.

When Veerappan was alive, the political party leaders were scared to visit these villages for the election campaign because those places were the hunting places of the forest brigand. The political netas were afraid of being kidnapped by the brigand for ransom. For this reason, this taluk is denied basic facilities like good roads.

Though it shared the border with the State of Tamil Nadu, this taluk looks like the 90s with no proper facilities for the general public. This also prevents the netas from visiting those remote villages. The people have also not shown much interest in voting, especially in those villages since none of the governments have fulfilled the assurances of basic amenities.