Farmers protest new power bill, demand rain relief

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru

Farmers under the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Green Brigade organized a protest on Monday demanding rollback of various anti-farmer measures and compensation for rain damage. Around 8,000 farmers took part in the protest march. The farmers want various contentious provisions of the Electricity Amendment Bill to be withdrawn.

Farmer leader Kodihalli Chandrasekhar said, “We want the government to take back anti farmers policies. We condemn the government’s move to install electricity meters in farmer’s pump sets. The government should also compensate the farmers for all the crops and houses that were destroyed due to the recent heavy rains in Karnataka.” He also claimed that Karnataka farmers have lost Rs 1 lakh crore due to flooding.

 “Farmers’ houses have been destroyed. The rain has not only affected crops but has also affected cattle rearing. Farmers across Karnataka have faced losses in crores and the state government should compensate for that,” he said The Karnataka State Farmers Association has said that they will go on an indefinite strike if the government doesn’t take any immediate action. “After this, we are planning to gherao district and taluk offices. Farmers in large numbers will go on indefinite strike,” he added