BENGALURU: The state government’s abrupt decision to shift the cabinet meeting venue from Nandi Hills to Vidhana Soudha has triggered speculation whether it was because of pressure from Shashwatha Neeravari Horata Samithi, a farmers’ organisation, which has launched a struggle for water for irrigation and other purposes in drought-hit districts such as Kolar, Chikkaballapura and Bengaluru Rural.
The cabinet meeting, which was to be held at Nandi Hills on June 19, will now be held at Vidhana Soudha. The samithi has criticised the government for its quiet decision to shift the cabinet meeting venue and termed it a “betrayal of people’s expectations”.
Samithi president Anjaneya Reddy claimed that the local police and officials had been in touch with his organisation since Monday, requesting it not to stage protests during the cabinet meeting at Nandi Hills. “The jurisdictional deputy superintendent of police Shivakumar spoke to us, seeking our support to ensure that the meeting was held peacefully,” Reddy said.
Reddy said that between 2016 and 2017 he was detained by the police thrice and kept in undisclosed locations whenever top government functionaries visited Chikkaballapura. The samithi has hundreds of supporters, he claimed.
“The officials seemed to be concerned that even if a small group staged a protest, it would be an embarrassment to the government,” he said.
The samithi has been demanding that work on the Yettinahole lift irrigation project be completed at the earliest and water diverted to the parched Bayaluseeme region, he said, accusing the government of “evading questions” and failing to resolve the issues faced by farmers of the region. “We had written to the chief secretary and the government to include the water crisis in the region in the cabinet meeting’s agenda. But the government chose to cancel the meeting at Nandi Hills. This shows the government is unwilling to face the people,” he said.
The samithi will wait for the cabinet’s decisions and step up its agitation. “We will intensify our fight for a permanent irrigation facility for the region,” Reddy said.
The government has not issued any formal statement on the reasons for shifting the cabinet meeting venue from Nandi Hills to Vidhana Soudha.
