Sheeja Moodubelle
Pics: Hemanath Padubidri
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi

Udupi, May 16: The members of the Bharathiya Kisan Sangha and the farmers of Udupi District staged protest against the government for not taking any corrective measures to stop the destruction of crops caused by the wild animals, in front of the deputy commissioner's office, Manipal, in the morning at 10.30 today on May 16.

Elendhooru Ranganath (Barathiya Kisan Sangha state president), B K Ramesh (state general secretary), BV Poojary Perdoor (Bharatiya Kisan Sangha Udupi district unit president) and Sathyanarayana Uduppa (District general secretary) were present during the protest. Katapadi Shankar Poojari (president of Zilla Panchayath Udupi), Gopal Bandari (Karkala MLA), congress leader M A Gaffoor also addressed the gathering.

Bharatiya Kisan Sangha Udupi district unit president B V Poojary Perdoor said that the government and the district administration should take action to protect farmers and their fields from wild animals.

The Bharatiya Kisan Sangha, Karnataka unit has also urged the state government to provide proper market support for agricultural produce.

Kisan Sangha urged the government to take necessary action to curb the wild animal’s districting the crops. The implementation of relief measures effectively at the earliest is the demand put forward by the Sangh.

Poojary said the sangha had been focusing on this problem from the past three years, but there has not been any proper corrective measures taken from the governement. Nearly 20 % to 90 per cent of the crops grown by farmers were destroyed by the wild animals such as monkeys, bisons, wild boars, peacocks and deer.

The memebers of Sangha cited the way with which Himachal Pradesh government has dealt with the monkeys by opening the monkey park. They had visited the monkey park of Himachal Pradesh in September 2010.  The Sangha also demanded that the government should catch the monkeys from the district and transport them to wildlife sanctuaries. A sterilization centre can also be opened in Karkala to sterilize the remaining monkeys. They also advised to dig trenches around Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary so that the wild animals did not leave the forests.

Kisan Sangha also demanded that the farmers should be given permits to possess firearms to protect their fields against wild animals.

"The situation should change and government should come forward to sort out of the problem" said Katapadi Shankar Poojari , president of Zilla Panchayath Udupi.