Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Tuesday met farmers of Bidadi at Vidhana Soudha and assured them that the state government would examine the issue of pending notifications that are preventing some villagers from getting compensation.
Shivakumar said hundreds of farmers attended the meeting and explained that although the government was offering what he described as good compensation, farmers in some villages had not received the amount because the notifications needed to be made by the government were not yet made.
The farmers asked the government to complete the notification process for villages where it is pending, the Chief Minister said.
“I will speak to the officials,” Shivakumar said, and he said he would ask authorities to issue notifications for villages that had not yet been notified.
The assurance comes after recent concerns among farmers affected by development and land development activities in and around Bidadi. The pending notifications are an important issue as, without official notification, eligible farmers cannot get the compensation they should have received under the government's scheme.
The Chief Minister said the government will investigate and take action through the concerned officials.
The interaction at Vidhana Soudha also takes place in the context of a padayatra of farmers. Shivakumar said 160 farmers are participating in the march and some of them had come from Mysuru and Mandya region.
He said that the peaceful march constitutes democratic rights.
“In a democracy, they can undertake a padayatra,” the Chief Minister said, adding that the farmers could continue walking and protesting.
Shivakumar said he had ordered the police not to stop the protesters and to leave them alone. He commented that the government did not intend to prevent the farmers from continuing peaceful demonstrations.
The Chief Minister’s position is important because farmer protests over land, compensation and development projects have often become contentious issues in Karnataka. Compensation of affected landowners is one of the main concerns whenever acquisition or other land-related processes are undertaken.
By promising to speak to officials about the pending notifications, Shivakumar was addressing one of the immediate administrative hurdles highlighted by the farmers.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister also took up questions about a viral video on BJP state president B.Y. Vijayendra and Karnataka Minister Madhu Bangarappa.
Shivakumar took Vijayendra’s words to heart and said that whatever Vijayendra said was the truth and questioned the BJP’s record on compensation when it was previously in power.
He also referred to former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, asking why Kumaraswamy had remained silent when the BJP was in power.
Shivakumar said the matter could be discussed in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, indicating that he would respond on the floor of the House rather than engage in an extended public debate outside the legislature.
The exchange is a political point of view for both compensation and the government’s response to farmer issues.
However, for farmers, the immediate concern is the issuance of notifications for villages that are still waiting for the process. If the necessary notifications are not issued, then the affected farmers will not receive the compensation they need even though they are assured by the government.
So, the Chief Minister's meeting with the farmers is expected to put pressure on the administration to examine the pending cases and accelerate the notification process.
The government's response will now be closely watched by farmers and local representatives— particularly those from villages where notifications have not yet been issued.
At the same time, the farmers’ decision to continue their padayatra points to the mounting pressure on the administration to resolve their concerns. Shivakumar’s order to the police not to block the march indicates that the government is at least a bit accommodating towards the protest.
The developments underline the importance of dialogue between the government and affected farmers in resolving disputes over compensation and administrative procedures.
For the moment, the Karnataka government has assured farmers that their concerns will be taken up with officials, while the padayatra continues to move in a peaceful way.
The next step would be the issuance of pending notifications for eligible villages, which could help those farmers receive the compensation they have been waiting for.
