BIJAPUR: The two factions of Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha (KRRS) led by MLA K S Puttannaiah and Kodihalli Chandrasekhar on Monday held separate protests against the police firing on farmers on July 5 at Kudgi. While Puttannaiah’s KRRS and Hasiru Sene held a protest at Muttagi village, the other protest was held at Golasangi. Both are in Basavan Bagewadi taluk and around 8 km from Kudgi where the NTPC is establishing its thermal power plant.
Both factions observed Martyrs Day to pay tributes to those who lost their lives in police firing at Naragund in Dharwad district on July 21, 1980.
At Golasangi, Puttannaiah demanded a judicial probe into the Kudgi police firing. He said a magisterial inquiry would be an eyewash. A High Court Judge should inquire into the firing incident and the report should be made public, he demanded. Puttannaiah opposed the thermal power plants alleging that it is not good for environment. Emission of ash will be hazardous to human health and will also adversely affect the underground water table. Only India is clinging on to thermal plants when the whole world is giving up, he rued.