Ryots gherao Iskcon farm near Srirangapatna

Ryots irked

The protesters who staged a dharna outside the Iskcon farm said the institution had blocked several pathways and roads that connected to the agricultural land of the local farmers.

Slammed

The protesting ryots took to task Chandrahari Das, incharge of the farm near Srirangapatna.

They alleged that scores of farmers had their agricultural land in survey no 411 in the area.  Iskcon has purchased the land around these survey number and fenced the area. “We should get the permission from the institution to enter our own lands.

The Iskcon farm has also encroached the roads and pathway that led to the farmers’ land,” they said.

The protesters led by Kaveraiah, Krishna, GP vice-president Kumar demanded action against the erring institution and urged for a free passage to their land.

Encroachment

 Iskcon has purchased about 70 acres land, but has encroached scores of acres land belonging to Gomala, they alleged.

Though, the taluk panchayat served an eviction notice on the institution to evict all the encroached land, Iskcon has brought a stay order from the court, Tahasildar Arul Kumar told the protesters.

Clarification

Meanwhile, Iskcon Bangalore has clarified that it has set up a model farm in Mahadevapura for the purpose of showcasing organic farming. Thousands of farmers have been trained in organic farming through this model farm. There are regular training programmes held for ryots from across the State. The total land of Iskcon for this purpose is about 77 acres.

No encroachment

These lands were purchased from the local farmers in 1994. In between the patta lands, gomala kharab land belonging to Government is also located.

“We have excluded the government lands and fenced our lands to protect the crop,” Bharatharshabha Dasa, Head, Communications, Iskcon Bangalore said in a release.
The protest was instigated by Congress leader D K Shivakumar and the Iskcon Mumbai with a vested interest and simply trouble Iskcon Bangalore, the press release added here.