Farm workers who have been cultivating on bagair hukum land for several decades now took out a protest march in Dharwad on Monday seeking title deeds for the land they have been cultivating.
They took out the protest march under the aegis of Akhil Bharat Krishi Karmikara Sanghatane (AIKKMS), staged a demonstration in front of the tahsildar’s office in Dharwad and urged the State Government to issue to title deeds for bagair hukum cultivators and also allow them to submit Form No 57.
Addressing the protestors, district president of AIKKMS Deepa Dharwad said that lakhs of poor farm workers across the State have been cultivating barren (Kushki) and waste revenue land for close to seven-eight decades and that land has been the lone source of income for them.
As these families are dependent on bagair hukum land for their livelihood, the State Government should consider their plea on humanitarian grounds, she said.
State vice-president of AIKKMS Lakshman Jadagannavar said that over 12 lakh bagair hukum cultivators have submitted applications to the State Government seeking title deeds for these parcels of land and these applications have been pending for years.
He said that because of the delay in processing these applications on bagair hukum land, the farm workers are being subjected to harassment by officials and others. The State Government should immediately take the requisite policy decision on the issue and help them, he demanded.
Taking exception to the State Government’s decision on allotting hundreds of acres of revenue land for hotels and resorts, he said that the same interest should be shown towards the landless farm workers.
AIKKMS office-bearers Sharanu Gonwar, Hanumesh Huded, Sridevi Doddmanae, Basappa Nekar, Irappa, Gouramma Parasappanavar, Maruti Agasimani and others led the protest.
They subsequently submitted a memorandum, addressed to the Chief Minister, to the Dharwad Tahsildar.
