The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Miners terrorising villagers: activists

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Wednesday, Aug 06, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Miners terrorising villagers: activists

Special Correspondent

U.R. Ananthamurthy and others complain to KSHRC about innocent farmers being framed

— Photo Bhagya Prakash K.

FACT-FINDING MISSION: Writer U.R. Ananthamurthy (left) addressing a press conference on illegal mining at Chikkanayakanahalli in Bangalore on Tuesday. Shivananjaiah Balekayi and film-maker Nagathihalli Chandrashekar (right).

Bangalore: The police have framed cases and arrested farmers from about 15 villages in Chikkanayakanahalli in Tumkur district for protesting against intensive mining in the area that led to destruction of the agricultural economy, a group of activists led by U.R. Ananthamurthy has said.

The well-known writer told presspersons here on Tuesday that they had sought the intervention of the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC) in ensuring that the “false charges” against the protesting farmers were dropped immediately.

The activists said in their representation to KSHRC that the mine owners were using the violent incidents on July 24, in which some machinery was destroyed, as an excuse to file cases against farmers.

“The farmers were holding a peaceful demonstration and were nowhere near the place where machines were kept,” said G. Shivananjiah Balekayi, retired principal of a college and a resident of one of the villages.

Deserted villages

Mr. Balekayi said that mining for the last five to six years had rendered water sources in all the surrounding villages dry, forcing people abandon cultivation and migrate to cities in search of work.

Prof. Ananthamurthy said mine owners had created an atmosphere of fear in the area and men had fled these villages in the fear of being arrested, leaving only women, children and aged people behind. “Women and children hide inside houses when they hear an approaching vehicle for the fear that it might be the police,” he said.

Lingadevaru Halemane, a writer hailing from the taluk, said that hillocks in and around the villages had been razed completely, and this would have serious ecological implications. He said anyone protesting against mining was either stifled through intimidation or was bribed into silence.

Prof. Ananthmurthy demanded that mining should be nationalised and there should be a strict ban on using agricultural land for any non-agricultural activity. He said that while the media focussed attention on naxalism and terrorism, they should look at issues like mining and the mafia that surrounded it, which “creates despair” among people.

The fact that all political parties were dependent on mining money added to a sense of hopelessness, he added.

Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar, film-maker, said that while nationalised mines could be held accountable by the people, the private owners had no sense of obligation towards society.

Mr. Chandrashekar said that privately-owned mines were cordoned off and were not open to any kind of public scrutiny.

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