Mangaluru: MLC Kishore Kumar Puttur has strongly condemned the alleged harassment caused by the police department and district administration in the renewal of gun licences held by farmers to protect their crops and lives from wild animals.The MLC said Home Minister Priyank Kharge has stated that “there is no proposal before the govt to simplify the license renewal process.”“This has exposed the govt’s anti-farmer policy. According to the law, the deputy commissioners have the authority to renew gun licenses for a maximum of five years. Despite this reality, officials are deliberately restricting licenses that can be renewed for five years to a mere two years. This is a conspiracy to force farmers to abandon their agricultural work and make them constantly wander around govt offices and police stations,” said Kishore.He said farmers in the coastal and Malnad regions are already devastated by arecanut leaf spot disease, yellow leaf disease and unseasonal rains.Amid this, continuous elephant attacks have created a situation where people are afraid to even step out of their homes. Due to this terrible menace from wild animals, farmers who solely depend on agriculture are facing a situation where they are forced to vacate their lands and farms and migrate. It is a tragedy that despite all these disasters, this govt shows no mercy towards the farmers, he noted.“The stance that ‘licenses will be renewed only if there are records of receiving compensation for wild animal attacks’ is a blatantly anti-farmer policy. Is it possible to predict beforehand when and where animals will attack? The deputy commissioners and police officers, who are rejecting the applications of countless farmers, should reside in villages bordering the forests to truly understand the farmers’ hardships,” he said.Demanding the immediate simplification of gun licence renewals, the MLC said a fierce protest would be launched against the govt in the coming days along with all the district’s MLAs, MPs, the Kisan Sangh, the district’s gun licence holders and thousands of farmers.
