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Karnataka
By Jaideep Shenoy
The Congress, which was then in the Opposition, described the incident as the worst ever violation of human rights and promised to set the records straight if returned to power. Such promises mean very little to the victims of police atrocities at Bagur. The Bagur-Navile Tunnel Project was envisaged by the then Congress Government headed by Devraj Urs in the late Seventies. The 10-km. long tunnel was to supply water to the people of Tumkur District for irrigation and other purposes beyond Navile as Hemavathi water flows only till Bagur. This was the genesis of the agitation nearly two decades later. The project involved laying a tunnel at a depth of 300 feet to ensure flow of water. Along its course on either side, there are 15 to 20 villages. Little did the villagers realise that the project would be a bane to them and render their fertile coconut groves barren. Devraj Urs promised the villagers that the Government would commission lift irrigation schemes at Bagur and Navile on a time-bound basis when the foundation stone for the project was laid. But the promise was not fulfilled. After 15 years, the Congress Government headed by M. Veerappa Moily dedicated the tunnel project for use by people of the region and those in Tumkur District. Not much was said about the promise made by the Devaraj Urs Government. The agitation, which gained momentum in May 1998, was launched five years earlier with the formation of the Raitha Hitharakshana Samiti in the affected villages along the course of the tunnel. Several agitations for the implementation of lift irrigation projects evoked no response from those in power. The samiti also received support from other organisations. With the support of the AITUC leaders, Gopal and Manjunath, the villagers blocked the tunnel at the Bagur end in May 1998. The Government felt the heat when farmers of Tumkur District started agitating against shortage of water. The then Chief Minister, J.H.Patel, was forced to release an advertisement in leading dailies urging the farmers to call off their three-month-old agitation. However, the farmers, who had by then economically began to feel the pinch by way of dwindling returns from coconut, refused to oblige. Crops in villages on either side of the project failed because of seepage of groundwater into the tunnel. Even the tanks in the area, which helped farmers to grow two crops, dried up, forcing them to depend on monsoon. The virtual rout of the Janata Dal in the 1999 Assembly elections in the district can be attributed to the police action on farmers. The Congress, which promised to provide relief to the victims of police atrocities and crop loss in its election manifesto, only withdrew cases against those involved in the agitation and gave them some minor concessions after coming to power. The party heavyweights who were in the forefront of leading protests against the police atrocities, including Mallikarjuna Kharge, H.C. Srikantaiah, S.M. Krishna, H.K. Patil, G. Puttaswamy Gowda, are holding responsible posts and can address the problems of people of the region and offer solace to them as promised. The National Human Rights Commission, which sent a team to the region, criticised police and revenue officials for the atrocities on farmers. It passed strictures against the then Superintendent of Police, Mohammed Wazir Ahmed, and the Deputy Commissioner, Rakesh Singh, and directed that the victims of atrocities be compensated. Recalling the incident, the Convener of the samiti, Shivanand Tagadoor, told The Hindu that the main issue was the Government's reluctance to pay a compensation of Rs. 26.14 crore to the victims of crop loss. The then Government agreed to pay only a part of the compensation amount arrived at by authorities of the Horticulture Department. He said Mr. Patil, who had urged the Janata Dal Government to implement lift irrigation projects in the area on a time-bound basis, did nothing in that direction after becoming Water Resources Minister. The leaders, including Mr. Krishna, who had condemned the incident in the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Kharge and Mr. Srikantaiah, today keep mum or divert the topic at the very mention of the Bagur Navile incident, he added. It is fashionable and prudent for politicians to lend a shoulder for the victims to cry on when out of power. They forget the plight of the victims when they come to power riding on the same issue.
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