Pro-Dalit and other progressive organisations have resolved to intensify the protests demanding grant of land for Dalit families of Ganguru in Arkalgud taluk, who were freed as bonded labourers 27 years ago. Representatives of Dalit Hakkugala Samiti (DHS), Dalit Sangharsha Samiti (DSS), CPI(M), Madiga Dandora Horata Samiti and other organisations visited Ganguru on Wednesday and extended their support to the villagers.
Around 90 Dalits working as bonded labourers in the village were freed by Hassan district administration in the 1990s. Since then, they had not been granted land. Besides that, the administration evicted them from the land which they cultivated over the decades. As a result, the families had been in dire straits with no source of income.
The activists who met the villagers said it was shameful that the government had not provided them with relief even after freeing them from bondage 27 years ago. The Forest Department evicted them from their land using force and removed the huts erected by the villagers.
The representatives of the organisations said they would appeal to Arkalgud MLA A.T. Ramaswamy and put pressure on the administration to grant the land they cultivated all these years. The Forest Department should plant saplings in the land and allow the people to cultivate it, they said.
DSS leaders Rajashekhar Hulikal, H.K.Sandesh, CPI(M) district secretary Dharmesh, DHS convener M.G. Pruthvi and others were present.
