Tension prevailed at some places in Haveri district on Tuesday, due to protests and stampede during distribution of Bt cotton seeds.

Farmers break barricades in a bid to collect seeds from an outlet of Bt cotton seeds company in Haveri district on Tuesday. The increase in demand for the ‘Kanaka’ variety of seeds and shortage of supply led to the rush. In Haveri city, police resorted to mild lathicharge as around 12,000 farmers fell over each other to collect the seeds.

Farmers not ready to part with their fertile land. Farmers in the taluk have intensified their agitation against the acquisition of land for the setting up of a steel plant by Tata Metaliks.

On Thursday, they arrived from Agadi village in the city in more than 35 bullock carts and held a roadblock protest for more than an hour at the Hosamani Siddappa Circle.

Process still in its ‘nascent stages’; price yet to be fixed

Tata Steel may have claimed that the land acquisition process for its integrated steel plant at Agadi in the taluk had been completed. But the land acquisition officers and farmers beg to differ. While the officers say that the process is in its nascent stages, some farmers say it has not even started.
Tata Steel (Corporate Services) Vice-President Partha Sengupta had, a few days ago, stated that the land acquisition had been completed.

The disease engulfs paddy in 5,000 hectares; if not controlled, yield could come down by 60 pc
Paddy growers in the district are in distress as bacterial blight disease has afflicted the crop grown in about 5,000 hectares.

The Karnataka government, which is in the thick of controversy over acquisition of land for several big-ticket investors, is in no mood to accept certain changes proposed in the new Land Acquisitio

Notwithstanding the turmoil in Karnataka over the iron ore issue, Tata Steel will move forward with its proposed investment in the State which it is jointly implementing with Tata Metaliks, a subsidiary.

Villagers of Bommanahalli in Haveri district are no longer susceptible to water-borne diseases or complications arising out of drinking water with high fluoride content as they have access to mineral water at a mere 20 paise a litre following the recent installation of a water purification plant at a cost of Rs 10 lakh.

Every household will be provided purified water containers of 20 litres at

Mahesh Kulkarni / Bangalore September 03, 2010, 0:56 IST

The Karnataka government has been facing an uphill task in acquiring land for big-ticket steel and power projects.

After four years of suffering financial losses, India's first gas-based power project, Ratnagiri Gas & Power Private Ltd (RGPPL), is now set to make its mark on India's power scene. The company had suffered a Rs600-crore loss in 2008-09, due to fall in capacity generation because of machinery breakdowns.