Exclusion of villages under Section 17 requested

Residents of Asagodu requested Deputy Commissioner Dr Bagadi Gautam not to announce the proposed forest land at Kunimakki, Asagodu, Thammadavalli and Melubilre villages in Hariharapura hobli of Koppa taluk.

The villagers, who submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner on Thursday, said that the special gram sabha organised at Asagodu Gram Panchayat gave rise to objections to declare the revenue villages as reserve forest area under the Section 17.

They said that the move of the district administration to declare the villages as reserve forest area will make the lives of the people difficult.

“The people have been dependent on Soppinabetta and Gomala lands. The survey was done without the local residents being informed. The roads and residential areas were also not surveyed,” they added.

Zilla Panchayat member Ramaswamy Shettigadde, Asagodu Gram Panchayat president D V Srinivasa
Naika, villagers Nagaraj, Prabhakar, Ramesh, Prasanna, Mrithyunjaya, Manjunath, Murthy, Yogish, Krishnappa and Vishwanath were part
of the delegation.