Residents of villages in the Kargal range of Sagar taluk in Shivamogga district have resolved to take out a 22-km protest march from Biligaru to Kargal on August 5, condemning alleged harassment by the local forest officers.
The RFO of Kargal recently registered a case against 10 youths of Uralagallu village on allegations of cutting trees in the forest area. The officers arrested a few of them and allegedly ill-treated them in their custody. The villagers claimed that the youths had only cut a few trees to allow movement of vehicles to the village, which has no access to the outside world. The residents, in a meeting at Tumari village, resolved to take out the protest march and demand disciplinary action against RFO Pramod and other officials.
Around 60 people stay put in Uralagallu village. They settled there decades ago after they were evicted for the Sharavati reservoir project. Since then they had no access to electricity. The children had to walk long distances to reach the anganwadi centre or a primary school. The Forest Department had been opposing any construction activity citing its rules.
