Mangaluru: MLC for the Udupi-Dakshina Kannada local bodies constituency, Kishore Kumar Puttur, met deputy chief minister G Parameshwara, seeking intervention to resolve technical and administrative hurdles faced by farmers in obtaining electricity connections for poultry farm buildings.In the state, many farmers and rural youth have taken up poultry farming — an allied agricultural activity — for self-employment and to augment income. However, Escoms are making it mandatory for farmers to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the gram panchayat to provide electricity connections to poultry farm buildings constructed on agricultural land, the MLC said.Since these buildings are constructed on agricultural land, they do not fall under the purview of the gram panchayat. Consequently, gram panchayats are refusing to provide property numbers or NOCs, citing a lack of provision in the rules. Due to this confusion, farmers are in severe distress and unable to obtain electricity connections, he said.“Poultry farming is considered an allied agricultural activity under the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, and these buildings are different in nature from ordinary commercial buildings. Therefore, to facilitate the farmers, instead of requiring a gram panchayat NOC, permission should be granted for the concerned village accountants of the revenue department to issue the NOC. The revenue department should issue an appropriate govt order or circular at the state level to rectify the injustice being faced by poultry farmers,” the MLC demanded.The minister responded positively to the request, the MLC said, expressing confidence that an appropriate order, if issued soon, will benefit lakhs of farmers and youth across the state.
