The residents of Tirthahalli taluk, who have been opposing the multi-crore multi-village scheme, celebrated holi by burning an effigy that represents ‘bad politics’, at Heggodu village in Thirthahalli taluk on Monday.
Calling it raitha holi (holi by farmers), the protesters said they chose this occasion to register their opposition to the corrupt politics responsible for designing the multi-village water supply scheme for 1,616 habitations in the taluk at a cost of ₹344 crore.
Nagaraj Savali, a resident of Savali village, said that the protesters chose to celebrate Holi festival in a unique way to attract the attention of the people concerned about the protest. “Earlier social reformers burnt anti-people texts to register their protests. Leaders of Raitha Sangha burnt copies of the orders that were anti-farmers. Similarly, now, we have burnt effigy of bad and corrupt politics to register our protest,” he said.
For the last 29 days, the residents of Kodlu, Balekodlu, Heggodu, Savali, and neighbouring villages have been protesting against the project, under which water would be lifted at Bheemeshwara Sangama, where rivers Malathi and Tunga join. The residents, depending on the rivers, allege that the project would spoil Bheemeshwara Sangama, besides depriving them of water resources.
They also question the logic behind designing the multi-village scheme to lift water at one point when many villages in the taluk are located on the bank of the river Tunga. Kodlu Venkatesh, the Raita Sangha leader, alleged that the project was conceived only to help the contractor.
