Shivamogga: The farmer union in Sagar on Wednesday vowed to reclaim land at the Sharavathi backwaters, threatening to barge into the Linganamakki dam. Farmer leader Dinesh Shiravala has announced to undertake a march to the dam site on Thursday.
The dam, located in Sharavathi valley and built across the mighty Sharavathi river, is located 120km from Shivamogga city.
Thousands of families were displaced during the construction of the dam in the 1960s. Now, forest authorities have served eviction notices to these displaced families where they had settled down.
Speaking to reporters at the protest site in Sagar town, Dinesh said the state govt has neglected agitating farmers, seeking to secure the rights of those displaced.
"Sagar MLA Gopal Krishna Belur and Shivamogga district in-charge minister Madhu Bangarappa have taken note of our indefinite protest only now, though it started on Monday. So, we have decided to reclaim our land and barge into the Linganamakki dam," he said.
However, Dinesh's announcement has met with opposition, with Congress functionaries, who are participating in the agitation, condemning such a drastic move. Sounding a word of caution, Congress neta GT Satyanarayana said no one should take the law into their hands and that the protests should be peaceful.
District officials had met the protesters on Tuesday, but no solution could be hammered out.
Zilla parishad CEO Hemant and Sagar AC Yatish had visited the protest site and held talks with the agitating farmer union. However, once the officials left, the protesters locked the gate of the protest site from outside, leading to chaos and heated exchanges between the protesters and the police.
While Shivamogga BJP MP BY Raghavendra, who met the farmers, expressed solidarity with the agitation, former minister and BJP state unit vice-president Harathalu Halappa was confronted by angry farmers for not championing their cause in the legislative assembly.