Farmers in Nanjangud, Mysuru district, protested on Thursday against alleged poor-quality highway construction, unauthorised use of canal water and the removal of soil from a canal embankment without payment of royalty. The State Farmers’ Association and Green Army activists demanded action against the contractor and highway authorities, citing road safety concerns and alleged violations affecting agricultural land and irrigation infrastructure.
Led by State Farmers’ Association working president T.R. Vidyasagar, the protesters gathered outside the Nanjangud irrigation department office and raised slogans against the contractor and officials associated with the highway project. They later submitted a memorandum to irrigation department officials before ending the protest.
Vidyasagar alleged that the highway development work near Hosa Halli Gate was being carried out with poor construction quality. He also claimed that required safety standards had not been implemented, resulting in an increase in accidents in the area. The farmers’ organisation linked the construction site to a recent road accident in which a young man died, and demanded that a first information report be registered against the contractor.
The organisation’s claims about the accident and construction quality were made during the protest and were not independently confirmed in the report. The farmers said legal action should be taken if the contractor’s work was found to have contributed to the fatality, and warned that they would launch a larger agitation if justice was not provided.
The protest also focused on the alleged use of canal water for highway construction. The farmers claimed that water flowing towards agricultural fields had been used without authorisation. They further alleged that thousands of tonnes of soil had been removed from a canal embankment without payment of the applicable royalty. Such allegations concern both the protection of irrigation assets and the regulatory requirements governing the extraction and use of construction material.
The farmers’ organisation gave the authorities until Saturday to act on the allegations. If no action is taken by then, the protesters warned that they would block the highway and hold a road blockade. The warning places pressure on the irrigation department and highway authorities to examine the construction site, the reported use of canal water, the source of the soil and the safety arrangements around the work zone.
The protest was attended by farmers’ organisation district president Sindhuvalli Satish Rao, state vice-president Immavu Raghu, women’s wing district president Shwetha and other members. The report did not provide a response from the contractor or the highway authority to the allegations. The next stated milestone is the Saturday deadline set by the farmers’ organisation for action by the authorities.
