Kodava activists on walkathon to Bengaluru, press for demands

Members of United Kodava Organisation (UKO), who are on a walkathon ‘Jabbumi Bhalo’ from Talacauvery to Bengaluru putting forward various demands, left for Bengaluru here on Monday.

The members of UKO, who have left Talacauvery on September 18, are expected to reach Bengaluru to press for their demands on October 4. They would cover a total distance of 414 km on foot.

They stay at Baburayan-akoppalu in Srirangapatna taluk on Monday night and leave for Mandya on Tuesday morning. Throughout the journey, the members of the UKO are creating awareness among the people about the problems in Kodagu.

They were received by the members of Mysuru Kodava Samaja and prominent Kodava families at various vantage points upon their entry to Mysuru city on Sunday. They participated in a meeting of the community people at the Kodava Samaja hall, the same day.

Convener of UKO Kokkalemada Manju Chinnappa said they have listed 18 demands for the development of the community as well as Kodagu region. “Agriculture land in Kodagu is being exploited for commercial gains and hence, law should be enacted like in Kerala to stop conversion of farmlands for other purpose. Earlier, paddy was grown on 35,000 hectares of land in Kodagu district. Now, most of the lands have been left barren. So, paddy cultivation should be given a boost and the government can announce an incentive of at least Rs 10,000 per acre to grow paddy,” he said.

“In view of conserving traditional Kodava lands like Mand-Maani, Vade, Devadabana, Gomala, Kyakola, Choota, etc, should be classified as ‘Thakkameya’, instead of the present ‘Paisari’ under column 6 and as ‘government lands’ under column 9 of the Revenue Department records,” he said.

“Small coffee growers in Kodagu are in dire straits. The Centre’s move to allow direct foreign investment in coffee plantations will threaten the very existence of the coffee growers. So, the State government should prevail upon the Centre to check foreign investment in coffee cultivation. Coffee plantations of small growers on encroached lands should be regularised in the interest of the farmers,” he said.