Mysuru: Multiple protests took place across the city on Friday as various groups raised concerns over pension policies, forest land rights, and ecological violations.
Members of the National Coordination Committee of Pensioners’ Association (NCCPA) staged a demonstration in front of the BSNL office in Jayalakshmipuram, demanding the withdrawal of recent amendments to the Pension Act passed in Parliament. The pensioners slammed the Union government for denying salary revisions before even setting up the 8th Pay Commission. They urged the Centre to form the commission immediately and include BSNL and allied department workers under the new pension framework. Parameshwaraiah, president of the association, and convener CR Krishnamurthy led the protest.
In a separate protest, Karnataka Raitha Sangha’s Mysuru unit demonstrated outside Aranya Bhavan, objecting to the state government’s plan to declare agricultural lands near forest fringes as reserve forests. Farmers argued that they’ve been cultivating these lands for generations and should be granted land rights and title deeds instead of being evicted.
Simultaneously, activists from Gandhadagudi Foundation held a rally from Ashoka Circle to Aranya Bhavan, demanding action against unauthorised resorts and lodges built in Kabini backwaters and other sensitive zones near Bandipur and Nagarahole Tiger Reserves. They accused authorities of ignoring eco laws and sought enforcement of eco-sensitive zone regulations, which ban such construction within 10 km of national parks and 5 km of tiger reserves.