Farmers Movement Archive

Good response in Kalyana Karnataka

The bandh call given by farmers and other organisations opposing the recent farm bills received good response in Kalaburagi, Koppal, Hospet and other cities and towns across Kalyana Karnataka region on Monday. Buses operated by North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation remained in depots and bus stands as activists associated with different organisations took to the streets and blocked major roads. In most of the towns and cities, trading units at the APMC remained closed and vehicular movement was relatively thin. Only some autorikshaws and private vehicles were seen on the roads. Government offices and establishments of essential services such as hospitals functioned as usual with diminished crowd. In Kalaburagi, activists belonging to the Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha, the Raitha Krishi Karmikara Sanghatane, the Akhil Bharat Kisan Sabha, the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, Hasiru Sene, the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), the Welfare Party of India and the Karnataka Nava Nirmana Sene staged protests in different parts of the city. Leaders of Indian National Congress also participated in the agitations in some places. Holding banners and placards and raising slogans against the Union and State governments, the activists took out a protest march from the APMC market yard to Jagat Circle where they held a public meeting. “The recent farm bills are the continuation of the BJP’s anti-farmer and pro-corporate policies that it has been implementing ever since it assumed power. These policies would impoverish the farming community by deepening the agrarian crisis. The very purpose of the bills is to help a few corporate giants to make more profit at the cost of the vast majority of farmers. We will not rest till the governments step back from implementing these policies,” Maruti Manpade, a leader of the Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha, told the public meeting in Kalaburagi. The bandh was almost complete at Hosapete in Ballari district as a conglomeration of 22 organisations representing different sections, including farmers, Dalits, pro-Kannada and Left wing, called for the bandh. Most of the business activities came to a standstill as people voluntarily downed shutters of their establishments. The agitating activists targeted Forest Minister B.S. Anand Singh and Health Minister B. Sriramulu, who hail from the district, for not raising their voices against the anti-farmer policies of the State government. In Koppal, protesting activists burnt some tyres outside Koppal Bus Stand to register their opposition to what they said anti-farmer bills. The protesters on motorcycles were found convincing the shopkeepers to close their business establishments for the day. The bandh call revoked mixed response in Bidar as most of the business establishments, except those in the APMC market yard, functioned as usual.

The Hindu

2020-09-29

KALABURAGI,KARNATAKA