Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Feb 21: President of district farmers union. Bantakal Ramakrishna Sharma, said that several petitions had been submitted to the deputy commissioner of the district by upholding law of the land. "As there has been no response to our needs, we will lay siege to the pump house of Baje dam on February 22 and stop water supply to the city.

We will then assert rights of farmers on river water by pumping water with the help of diesel pump to our parched agricultural fields which have not got any water since the last 20 days," he stated.

The district administration has restricted use of backwaters at Baje dam for agricultural purpose. The farmers had requested to provide water to their fields at least once every week. Kaup MLA, Lalaji R Mendon too had explained the situation on hand to the deputy commissioner. The deputy commissioner, who said that a decision would be announced by Wednesday, has failed to give any response. Therefore, the farmers have decided to take the route of protest to rightfully assert their rights," he explained.

Sharma noted that water from the dam is being usedfor building construction, watering the flower plants etc in the city.

Another farmer leader, Kudi Srinivas Bhat, claimed that Baje dam holds enough water to satiate the needs of the city as well as the farmers. He accused the deputy commissioner of depriving water to farmers. He said that the official has been owning anti-farmer stand even though lot of water gets leaked from the dam.

Municipal commissioner here, Anand P Kallolikar, said that the deputy commissioner has called for a meeting of municipal officials, engineers, zilla panchayat chief executive officer, assistant commissioner, panchayat development officers, and officials of the department of agriculture on February 22 to discuss the issue of backwaters at Baje dam.