BENGALURU: The rural areas of Mysuru district have many issues troubling the people here. After Bengaluru, it is Mysuru that has many industries, including information technology. But in the last few years, a number of industries have shut down here. Multinational companies, demonetisation and GST are some of the factors that have contributed to this.
Muniswamy, a travel agent, said that while Mysuru city has rich heritage and is a major tourist attraction, poor air connectivity leaves a lot to be desired. Government schemes such as Udan have failed here, making travelling inconvenient for thousands of tourists.Augustine T U, deputy director of Confederation of Indian Industry, said that after demonetisation and GST implementation, many small and medium scale industries have suffered a lot and some have even shut down. He, however, added that recently some new players are starting industries here.
The situation is not too great in rural areas either. While most people here are depended on agriculture, the absence of irrigation projects have forced villagers to rely on lakes and underground water.A farmer couple from Kuppe village, Madegowda and Sanna Chikkamma, said their agricultural activities ended by January and they are now jobless till monsoon arrives in June.Prashant of Hanaganahalli village said that while Mandya and Hassan have seen a lot of improvement, thanks to irrigation projects, little has been done for Mysuru district. Villagers here work till winter and then go almost jobless till June.
Talk about politics and many in the district are still confused about the JD(S)-Congress coalition this election. For decades, JD(S) has had a large number of Vokkaliga supporters here and the party’s natural enemy has been Congress.JD(S) worker from Hunsur taluk Somashekhar said party workers are not too happy with the coalition. Last election, many people supported BJP just so that Congress could not win. This election too they are waiting for the parties to decide on the candidates before they decide on whom to support, he said.
Prasanna, another JD(S) worker said he is unhappy with the party’s decision to leave the seat for Congress. He added that the coalition is most likely to field Congress’ Vijayashankar as its candidate, but he is a Kuruba in a Vokkaliga dominated area. “Earlier he was with the BJP and now he has joined Congress. It is tough to believe such turncoats,” he said.