HAVERI
A farmer’s family staged an emotional protest in Ironi village of Ranebennur taluk on Monday by sitting inside holes dug for planting, opposing a forest department operation to clear the land.
The family said they have been cultivating the land for decades and strongly objected to the department’s claim that it was forest land.
Forest officials had arrived to remove what they described as an encroachment on forest land allegedly occupied by farmer Manjappa Nilappa Annar. The move led to a heated argument between the officials and the farmer’s family. Family members questioned how they could suddenly be treated as encroachers when they had been cultivating the same land for nearly 60 to 70 years.
The family also pointed out that a case concerning the land is pending before the court. They questioned the need for clearance while the legal dispute was continuing and urged officials to maintain the existing situation until the court delivers its decision. They repeatedly asked the officials to take back the JCB machinery brought for the operation.
Women from the family became emotional and appealed to the forest officials not to evict them. Some family members even fell at the officials’ feet while requesting them to stop the clearance work. They said they had already sown crops several times despite inadequate rainfall and were farming with borrowed money.
The family members said losing the land would leave them without a livelihood or a place to go. The incident occurred under the jurisdiction of the Ranebennur Rural Police Station. The protest highlighted the family’s demand for relief and for authorities to wait until the court settles the disputed land issue.