It is quite normal to see villagers protesting against rehabilitation, acquisition of land etc. But in this village the villagers have only one demand. That is to rehabilitate them somewhere else so that they can lead a peacefull life, reflecting at the hardship faced by them.

This is the tale of a prosperous village that was once well known for the aromatic high quality Cardamom that it grew.

From those prosperous day, today, Byrapura in Urubage Gram Panchayat jurisdiction of  Gonibeedu Hobli, situated 30 km from Mudigere Taluk is suffering silently as a victim of natural calamity. The village is also famous because of the belief that it was the place where Lord Nanyada Byraveshwara resided.

This village had knit a world of its own. It was a happy village with 52 families  and a population of 302 people. Okkaligas, Scheduled Caste, Schedules tribes and other communities led a harmonious life here.
But the situation changed over last five years as the village started receiving heavy rainfall that brought rot disease to the healthy cardamom plants.

The local residents say that with the rot disease, the productivity of the village reduced so much that now, the villagers together grow a quantity of Cardamom that was once grown by a single villager. The people of the village follow ‘Muyyalu’ system for growing Coffee, Cardamom, plantain and paddy.

The unique feature of this agricultural village is that it receives heavy rains during rainy season, grows very cold during winter but has a pleasing weather during summer.

Hence this village located in the Western Ghats can be an ideal tourist destination for nature lovers and an apt place for adventurers and can be aptly called the ‘Ooty of Malnad’.

With the help of Shree Kshethra Dharmasthala Dharmadikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade, recently the historically significant Nanyada Byraveshwara Temple was renovated  at a cost of Rs 24 lakhs. Today good roads have been laid to the temple and a herbal garden has been grown around it. A residential school has also been put up.
 This village has a Primary school, a hospital and two government buses have been deployed here. Inspite of all these developments, all that is missing in this village is the certainty about livelihood.

The land that once used to yield over 2 to 3 quintal paddy per acre has become barren.

Government’s various packages and plans are reaching only a few people in this village that is pushed into darkness for months together during the rainy season due to power cuts.

The villagers have been facing huge crop loss from last three years and the residents demand that they must be provided relief under the Natural Calamity Funds.

Though the Villagers submitted umpteen demands to the Government demanding to declare the region as Natural Calamity prone area, no actions have been taken by the government so far.

The people demand that the loans of the farmers from this region must be waived off completely or shift the farmers to some other region and provide them with cultivable lands so that they earn themselves some livelihood.