Karnataka - Bijapur   

Indi farmers begin fast

Staff Correspondent

BIJAPUR: Members of Indi Etha Neeravari Horata Samiti, who have been agitating at Thamba village in Indi taluk for the last two weeks in support of their demand that Indi Lift Irrigation Scheme be implemented as per original plan, on Friday began relay hunger strike.

Samiti president Mallaiah Sarangamath and 21 others observed fast. According to original plan, the main canal of the project was to be constructed up to 147 km. In the 2001 revision, the State Government curtailed the length of the main canal to 97 km depriving 25 villages of irrigation.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Mohsin called on the agitators on Friday evening.

He said the Government had called a high-level meeting in Bangalore on July 1 to discuss the issue.

The representatives of agitating farmers had been invited to the meeting, he said and appealed to Samiti members to end their hunger strike.

The protesters refused to call off their stir. They ruled out their participation in the proposed meeting. Top Government functionaries should visit them, and hand over a formal sanction order, the said.

They have planned to begin fast-unto-death from June 21, if the Government failed to concede their demand by then.

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Indi farmers begin fast

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