BANGALORE, MARCH 16: Member of the Legislative Council and former minister Bheemanna Khandre has called upon the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to inquire into the state government's ``apathy'' to suicides by farmers in the Bidar and Gulbarga districts.Presenting his amendments to the motion of thanks to the Governor's address, Khandre informed the Legislative Council that he had written to NHRC chairman M N Venkatachalaiah, urging him to order a Corps of Detectives (CoD) inquiry against the state government. The government had failed to protect the lives of farmers in the state, he said, quoting from his letter.
Terming the government's promise to institute an inquiry into the suicides as a ``shame'', Khandre said there was clear proof of at least seven farmers having committed suicide due to the failure of the tur dal crop.
Alleging that CoD inquiries were ``fabricated'' at the instance of the government, he said an inquiry by a House Committee was summarily ignored by the stategovernment. The government's promise to pay a compensation of Rs 500 per hectare was discriminatory, he said, since crop destruction by elephants at Tumkur was being compensated for at the rate of Rs 2000 a hectare.
The farmers would not accept the ``meagre'' compensation, he said, adding 60,000 farmers from the two districts would stage a satyagraha to protest against the government's attitude.
Stressing that he held the Governor in high respect, Khandre however noted that the Governor's address had made no mention of corruption, which, he said, pervaded all layers of the government. ``This only shows that all are corrupt or that the government is sheltering the corrupt,'' he added.
Khandre said a government which was ``cheating'' people had made the Governor read the address. The Governor's speech carried no value as it did not address the problems of the people. Further, Khandre pointed out that the Karanji project, conceived 26 years ago, was still incomplete. While the initial cost of the projectin 1972 was Rs 9.3 crore, it had escalated to a whopping Rs 300 crore, he said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
