Farmers lock agri dept office

The farmers said that about 5,880 agriculture equipment worth Rs 6 lakh arrived at the Agriculture Department office under the National Krishi Vikas Yojna and Zilla Panchayat Agriculture Mechanisation Scheme. However, the department has not taken any initiative to distribute it among farmers, they alleged.

The department had distributed equipment to about 120 farmers on Monday after protests of Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene. However, the distribution was stopped on Tuesday, farmers said.

Farmers, who reached the office to avail the scheme benefits, locked the door of the Agriculture Department office and organised protest. They demanded the authorities to distribute equipment to all farmers without any discrimination.

They pointed out that the scheme benefits were extended to all farmers in Sringeri taluk. Hence, they urged all farmers in Koppa taluk to provide the equipment.Zilla Panchayat Member S N Ramaswamy tried to convince the farmers and said that equipment will be distributed to deserved farmers on priority. However, farmers refused to register their names. 

Rajya Raitha Sangha Leaders Karavane Naveen, Belagula Chinthan, Niluguli Nagaraj, Herick Noronha, Hanagalu Praveen, Shivaraj and others were present.