Draft bill provisions can adversely affect farmers, warns association

Draft bill provisions can adversely affect farmers, warns association

Mangalore Today News Network

Puttur, Apr 22: The Puttur-based All India Areca Grower’s Association has accused the state government of keeping farmers ignorant about the draft of the Karnataka Groundwater (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) Bill, 2009. The last date to file objections to this bill is April 30. 

Manchi Shrinivasa Achar, the president of the association, said that the association has decided to oppose certain provisions of the bill, which would adversely affect farmers. They urged the government to extend the last date to enable the filing objections. He alleged that the government has not given the draft bill any media publicity; instead, it has only published the draft bill in English on the Department of Mines and Geology website. Mr. Achar demanded that a Kannada version of the bill must be published immediately so that farmers who cannot access the Internet can read and understand it. He accused the government of attempting to keep farmers ignorant about the bill by publishing only an English version of it on the website. Pointing out that some of the provisions of the bill can adversely affect farmers, he even warned that the provisions can be used to actually harass farmers. 

The draft bill empowers the Karnataka Groundwater Authority to control the exploitation of groundwater. The cultivation of crops such as sugarcane and paddy using groundwater will be banned in notified areas. Achar said that this provision needs to be discussed and reviewed. Provisions regarding penalty for digging bore wells in notified areas, and many others should be debated, he said.