BENGALURU: Farmers across the state will join hands to protest the high-tension transmission line in Kodagu and the Kudgi Super Thermal Power Project in Vijayapura district.
Melkote MLA and Karnataka State Farmers Association president K S Puttannaiah told reporters on Tuesday that protests were planned in various parts of the state, including Bengaluru.
Puttannaiah said the transmission line passing through Kodagu to supply power to Kerala will require the felling of 50,000 trees.
Col C P Muthanna, president of Coorg Wildlife Society, said that so far, nearly 4,000 trees in the district had been axed.
Moreover, bulldozers and other machines had been disturbing the wildlife, he said, and claimed that in the past few months, four people were trampled to death by elephants.
Puttannaiah said the felling of trees will affect the ecology as well as the livelihood of farmers in Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagara, Hassan, Bengaluru and Kodagu districts.
More than 8,000 farmers from these places will gather at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on February 11, and appeal to the state government to take a delegation to New Delhi to convince the Centre to scrap the project, he said.
He said they have also invited elected representatives from all parties to the protest.
On the Kudgi power plant, he said farmers have been protesting against the project for the past 146 days. Even scientists have opposed the plant, he added.
“This project too will harm the environment. We need to implement solar power projects. On February 11, farmers in and around Vijayapura will protest outside MP Ramesh Jigajinagi’s residence opposing the project,” he said.
Puttannaiah said on February 28, thousands of farmers from across the state will take part in a ‘jail bharo’ protest, and stage dharnas in front of their respective district commissioners’ offices.
On February 10, more than 10,000 agricultural labourers will stage a protest in Bengaluru demanding better wages, Puttannaiah added.