Farmers stage protest at Kalaburagi's Gescom office with crocodile captured by them

Kalaburagi: Farmers brought a crocodile with them in their protest in front of a Gescom office here on Thursday against the supply of electricity to irrigation pumpsets at night.

They brought the crocodile, captured by them at a farm at Gobbur (B) village of Afzalpur taluk, to show how vulnerable they were to attacks by reptiles when they went to work at night because of the electricity being supplied only at that time.

Lakshman Poojary, a farmer, had seen a crocodile straying into his farm on the banks of Bhima river in the night when he was watering the crops. Soon, he called out other farmers for help and together, they tied up the crocodile with a rope so that it could not move.

They then carried it in a bullock cart to the nearby Gescom office. They said they were being attacked by crocodiles and snakes since they were forced to work at night, the only time when Gescom provided three-phase supply.

They demanded that there should be supply of power from 6 am, instead of 4 am every day.

PSI Rahul Pawade of Devala Ganagapur station rushed to the spot and convinced the farmers to hand over the crocodile to forest officials. Later, the forest officials kept the crocodile at the mini zoo in Kalaburagi.

Divisional forest officer Sanjeev Kumar Chavan said the crocodile was about 10 years old and was healthy. Farmers hadn’t caused any harm to the crocodile, he added.