Ti.Na. Srinivas urges all MLAs and MP of Shivamogga to resign for ‘failing to safeguard interests of Malnad farmers’

Alleging that the elected representatives of Shivamogga district have failed to fight for the interests of Malnad farmers, Ti.Na. Srinivasa, convener of the Malnad Raitha Horata Samiti, has demanded that all MLAs and MP of Shivamogga resign.

Addressing a press conference in Shivamogga on Tuesday (September 1), Mr. Srinivasa said the MLAs and the MP had not raised issues concerning farmers of the region in the legislature and were largely unaware of their plight. He said they had failed to address the issues of those who had lost their lands to dam projects, and that farmers who had been granted land in compensation were unable to enjoy ownership of it, as their land was being declared as “forest”. The elected representatives, he alleged, had remained silent on these issues.

On the draft notification proposing to declare the Western Ghats an Ecologically Sensitive Area, Mr. Srinivasa alleged that the elected representatives had failed to grasp the gravity of the issue. “A few are favouring a survey on the lines of the Kerala model, which will not help the State. Besides, the elected representatives are busy blaming each other over the K. Kasturirangan report on the Western Ghats,” he said.

He further said the Kasturirangan report, prepared on the basis of satellite images, deserved to be thrown into the dustbin, as the expert committee had not consulted the gram panchayats while preparing it. “The elected representatives have not been able to raise the issue effectively, neither in Parliament nor in the State Assembly. They should resign immediately,” he demanded.