Udupi: Farmers under the banner of Udupi District Krishika Sangha staged a protest in front of MESCOM office, against the hike of Rs. 10000 to for new new pump set connections for farming.
They gave a memorandum to withdraw the new rule and ignore the notices sent to the farmers already. The memorandum also demands additional linemen in the villages.
Kudhi Srinivas Bhat, chief secretary of the association, said that before finishing the rainy seasons itself, load shedding had started and was mostly concentrated on the peak hour in villages. The government has an ignorant attitude towards the farmers.
Baskar Shetty, president of the sangha said that there are lots of illegal connections in the district. There is no one to control it instead all are trying to make money out of it. Government should take immediate action against such connections.
MS Bhatt said the power tariff in Karnataka is high, when compared to other states. “Government and the leaders never get tired of telling that farmers are given free power but misused, he questioned that if the availability of water is nil in the summer what we do with the given power”
He added, “under ‘Raitha Surya scheme, government had issued notification that the farmers in the state should take part in the scheme. However the online quota finished with in 7.5 minutes, which raises many doubts in the distribution of the scheme’s quota”..
He said government should initiate inquiry into the distribution of the scheme quota.
A memorandum was submitted to Chief Minister through MESCOM CEO.
