Karnataka bandh: 300 detained near Town Hall in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: The police have detained over 300 people for blocking roads while protesting against the state and central government’s amendments to land reforms and the APMC Act.

Ignoring the coronavirus fear, farmers came on the roads in groups, raised slogans, took out bike rallies, burnt tyres in protest on the road, staged sit-in demonstrations, and gathered in front of the Town Hall to protest.

The Congress, which has extended support to the protests, said it will stage a demonstration in front of its office on Race Course Road in Bengaluru.

Pro-farmer organizations backed by a number of other social and political outfits on Monday staged protests across Karnataka over the amendments to the APMC and land reforms act.

The demonstrations were against two important amendments to the Karnataka Land Reforms Act and the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act passed by the Karnataka Assembly despite strong objection by the opposition parties, mainly the Congress and JD(S).

The amendment to the KLR Act lifts restrictions on purchasing agricultural land and enables any individual to purchase it.

Earlier, the law permitted only the farmers to purchase agricultural land in the state.

The repeal of certain provisions in the APMC Act through an amendment allows private players to directly purchase agriculture produce from farmers, which was prohibited earlier.

The protesters alleged that these laws will ruin the agriculture sector as people with moneybags will purchase agricultural land to convert their black money into white and turn agriculture land into real estate business.

The farmers alleged that the amendment to the APMC Act will deprive them of the minimum support price and enable multinational companies and big corporate houses to directly procure produce at their rates.

The call for a bandh given by the Karnataka Raitha Sangha (Karnataka Farmers” Association) and other farmer organisations is supported by the Congress, JD(S), Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) and the Left parties.