Intensifying their agitation against the shifting of the Agriculture Extension Centre from Vijayapura taluk to Muddebihal taluk, a group of farmers have decided to launch an indefinite dharna at the Deputy Commissioner’s from Thursday.
Announcing this at a press conference here on Tuesday, Sanganagouda Patil, one of the conveners of a committee formed for the purpose, said that despite their fervent appeals, the University of Agricultural Sciences (Dharwad), under which the centre comes, has decided to shift the centre.
He said that the appeal has been made to district in-charge minister M.B. Patil and a letter has also been written to the governor for intervening in the matter.
Mr. Patil said that the University has taken this decision by succumbing to pressure from Muddebihal MLA and Karnataka’s special representative to Delhi C.S. Nadagouda.
“Mr. Nadagouda is bringing politics into the issue related to farmers. The centre has been working here for several years by serving all taluks of the district. The shifting would harm the interest of the farmers of the four taluks that are located close to the centre here,” Mr. Patil said.
He claimed that after the establishment of the centre, some ten farmers of the district have received the Krishi Pandit Award for best agricultural practice. He said that, if shifted to Muddebihal, it would be difficult for most of farmers to reach the taluk as it is geographically far from four taluks — Vijayapura, Indi, Sindagi and Basavanabagewadi. Mr. Patil said that instead of forcing the University to shift the present centre, the MLA should get a new sub-centre granted for his constituency.
The indefinite dharna would be launched from Thursday to meet their demand, said Mr. Patil.
