Poor Dalit farmers allege ‘scam’ to dispossess them of lands

Arasikere: In the village of Adihalli, Kasaba, Hobli, Arsikere Taluk, more than 15 Dalit families have been cultivating an estimated 300 acres of land in survey no. 93 thus far.

However, district administration officers, who are supposed to be on the side of Dalits and are expected to provide justice to the aggrieved, have allegedly succumbed to the pressures of influential people and have tried to snatch the lands and give them to wealthy people of other communities, it is being alleged.

An attempt has reportedly been made to snatch away the lands of more than 35 Dalit families who have been cultivating 12 acres of Gomala land over 40 years in Jajur Gram Panchayat of Kasaba Hobli, Arsikere Taluk, and hand it over to a real estate businessman in a multi-crore ‘scam’.

In Handimarati of Katikere village, Kasaba Hobli, Arsikere Taluk, there is an alleged attempt to snatch away about 40 acres of land of poor Dalits who have been cultivating it for decades in favour of a solar power plant.

On “Bagair Hukum” lands being cultivated across the taluk, farmers who have applied for ownership and rights to cultivate the land should be given first priority according to seniority of application, but due to pressure from local MLAs, the officials are trying to give the lands away only to the supporters of the MLAs, it has been further alleged.

“We are appealing to the taluk administration and district administration to consider this carefully and provide those lands to the poor farmers. If we question such injustices and illegalities, it is not right to file a Dalit atrocity case against us and our leader N. R. Santosha and his supporters. The law exists to protect Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but is being misused due to pressure from some elites,” Dalit activists have alleged.

“The government, district and taluk administrations should not allow such developments to continue. If our request is not responded to, we will hold a massive protest in front of the District Collector’s office,” the activists have warned.

“We hereby appeal to the authorities to save the lands of poor Dalit families which, in principle, if not law, belongs to them,” they felt.