Farmers block Bengaluru highway in Mandya, traffic thrown out of gear

MANDYA/MYSURU: Led by activists of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), farmers on Friday from across Mandya descended on the Nalwadi Circle on the Mysuru-Bengaluru highway in Mandya district to protest the amendments passed to the farm bills by the Centre. The farmers also appealed to the state government against promulgating the proposed amendment to the Karnataka Land Reforms Act.
The protesting farmers raised slogans against the state and central governments.However, owing to the protesters blocking traffic at the Nalwadi Circle, there was traffic pile-up on both sides of the highway, with vehicular traffic juddering to a halt for more than half-an-hour. Protests were also held at Srirangapatna, Maddur, Shivapura and Pandavapura taluks in Mandya district, with all agitators rising their voice against the ‘anti-farmer’ policies of the state and Centre. The protesters warned of intensifying the agitation if the central government did not roll back the amendments to the farm bills.
New labour laws draw flak
In Mysuru, on the other hand, activists of the Joint Committee of Trade Union (JCTU) assembled at the deputy commissioner’s office to protest the passage of three labour laws that merge 25 previous legislations. The protesters cried foul over the manner in which the bills were pushed through the Rajya Sabha despite opposition parties and labour organisations voicing their apprehensions and reservations over the bills.
The protesters said that the Centre must drop the following laws: Industrial Relations Code 2020, Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and Social Security Code, 2020
The protesters took exception with the laws being pushed through both houses of the Parliament without detailed deliberations. Moreover, they pointed out that the bills only considered the interests of the employers and not of the workers. The laws, they said, took away from workers any sense of security, thereby paving the way for more exploitation. “These laws will make the life of the labourers miserable,” they said.