Three forest officials were injured in a clash with a group of farmers in Gangayyanapalya village of Tumkuru district. Reportedly, a few farmers were also injured. The incident took place when the forest officials reached the village to reclaim the encroached forest land.
According to officials the farmers allegedly encroached upon government land for decades and cultivated them as well. “The 585 acres of land in Gangayyana playa belongs to the forest department, we also conducted the survey earlier, This land was illegally encroached on by farmers. When we tried to dig up the trench to mark boundary hundreds of farmers attacked us’’ said Gubbi Range forest officer G Duggappa.
When the department officials reached with earthmovers to dig the trench and mark the forest land on Thursday, there was a scuffle between the forest department and the farmers. When the commotion escalated, the forest staff, numbering around 100, allegedly assaulted farmers with batons. Few farmers and three forest officials were also injured in the clash.
Kunigal range forest officer( RFO) Mansoor, Gubbi RFO Durgappa and a patrolling forester Vijayakumar were seriously injured in the clash. The injured were initially treated at Chelur government hospital and taken to Tumkur district hospital for further treatment. The farmers’ leader Doddananjayya was also admitted to Tumakuru district hospital for treatment.
Hundreds of farmers have been cultivating Bagar Hukum (government )land in Gangaiya’s Palya for the last 40-50 years, and the forest department seized, however, had conducted surveys and claimed the land belong to the forest department, forest department officials.
The farmer organisations have held meetings with the several officials including Tahsildar, deputy commissioner, forest department officials and ministers, but the problem remained unsolved.
‘’More than 150 farmers cultivating the land for decades as it is government Bagar Hukum land. The forest officials tried to evict us by snatching the land ‘’ farmers’ leader Doddananjayya told reporters. “Police deployed security right around the village. When farmers protested officials attacked farmers using lathis, and injured ten farmers,” he added.
“Based on a complaint by RFO B Duggappa we registered a case against 8 farmers under IPC section 143,(unlawful assembly)147(guilty of rioting), 148( rioting with a deadly weapon), 332 (voluntarily causes hurt ), 352(assault ,using criminal force ), 504 (intentional insult and provocation) and 506(threatening with life),” said Chelur police inspector N Manjunath.
“The farmer leader Doddananjayya also filed a complaint against the forest department and we registered a case under section 324 read with 34(causes hurt by using instrument). We have not arrested anybody in this connection. The investigation is going on and we deployed police personnel in the village to maintain peace” he added.
