Farmers eat puffed rice, bananas in unique protest in Karnataka

In a unique protest over the delay in procurement of their green gram produce, farmers in Gadag ate puffed rice, snacks and bananas in front of Ron Tahasildar’s office entrance.
Farmers eat puffed rice, bananas in unique protest in Karnataka

GADAG: In a unique protest over the delay in procurement of their green gram produce, farmers in Gadag ate puffed rice, snacks and bananas in front of Ron Tahasildar’s office entrance. Many village farmers had come to Ron Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) to sell their green gram produce on tractors and lorries, but the manager has been delaying the process and cited various reasons like shortage of storage space.

Farmers waited for three days and slept on their tractor to protect the crop. On Friday evening, they held a rasta roko protest at the APMC and went to the Tahsildar’s office to stage a protest. They sat on a dharna and ate puffed rice, snacks and bananas for three days.

Nearly 20 farmers staged the protest in front of the office, and did not allow any staff members to enter or exit the building. They demanded the tahsildar to come out and help them sell their crops. The farmers raised slogans against the official for not purchasing the produce at the support price.

The farmers alleged that the managers have been delaying the procurement and said that that the farmers were told to wait as there is no space to store the green gram produce at the warehouse. The farmers said that have waited for three days and decided to protest in front of the Tahsildar office until the crops are sold.

Tahsildar U Vani came to the office and promised the farmers to do the needful. She accompanied the farmers to APMC and asked the concerned authorities to purchase green gram as soon as possible and help the farmers.

The farmers said, “We waited at the APMC office for three days, and with no time to go home, we ate churumuri, snacks and bananas instead of roti, rice and dal. Hence, we thought of protesting in a unique way to make the Tahsildar recognise our problems and help us. We are happy that the Tahsildar came with us to the APMC and helped us. We thank her”. Ron Tahsildar U Vani said, “I went with farmers and asked the concerned managers to do the needful”.

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