Hundreds of farmers, along with their wives and children, staged a protest on the Belagavi-Khanapur road at Zadshahpur on Monday against the proposed Belagavi Ring Road, which would destroy the fertile farmlands of 32 villages in Belagavi taluka. The farmers demanded that the government immediately cancel the proposal, which forced them to flee the country in protest.
Attempts have been made to acquire the fertile lands of farmers for the Belagavi Ring Road, and in response, hundreds of farmers held a Rasta Roko protest on the Belagavi-Khanapur road at Zadshahapur.
The National Highway Authority is trying to take away the agricultural land yielding THREE crops from the 32 villages in the taluka for the Belagavi Ring Road, despite the farmers filing objections. To demonstrate their strength to the National Highway Authority and Belagavi district administration, the farmers gathered in large numbers at the protest site early this morning, many of them bringing their bullock carts.
The participation of women from the farmers’ families was significant, as they held anti-ring road placards and marched in the protest. Farmers’ children and school children also joined in, raising loud slogans that left the area in a state of panic.