Coastal Talk News | Udupi
The government's delay in granting absolute ownership rights over kumki land to farmers, despite existing legal provisions, will be a key issue to be discussed at a seminar to be held in Udupi on November 5, said Ashok Kumar Kodgi, president of the Udupi District Krishika Samaja.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Udupi on Tuesday, Kodgi said the seminar would be held at 10.30 am at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hall in DC’s office. MPs and MLAs from the three coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada will attend, along with farmers who will share their views.
Kodgi said farmers in coastal districts had traditionally used kumki land for grazing cattle, growing fodder and collecting minor timber for domestic use, even before Independence. Though the Madras Board of Revenue's Standing Orders and the Karnataka Land Revenue Act recognised farmers' rights to use these lands for agricultural purposes, nearly four lakh families in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi are yet to receive absolute ownership. The state government decided in 2013 to grant RTCs to kumki landholders, but the decision is still not implemented. Forest department has opposed the move, citing the classification of these lands as deemed forests. Kodgi said farmers had no intention of using the land for non-agricultural purposes. The seminar will also discuss the pending permanent grant of leased lands to farmers who planted cashew saplings there and the increasing problem of wild animals entering agricultural fields.
