Representatives of All India Democratic Women’s Association blocked roads in front of the KSRTC bus station, opposing the draft of the National Food Security Bill, which will be brought up in Parliament soon.
The rally began at the H N Circle where the protesters burnt effigies representing the ruling party. They laid siege to the taluk office and submitted a memorandum to the incharge tahsildar.
ZP vice president B Savithramma said, “The bill is anti-people and will destroy the public distribution system completely, and adversely affect farmers and poor people.”
The problem of malnourishment thrives in the State. Savithramma explained that at least five crore metric tonnes of food is essential to overcome the situation. At the current time, some 7.7 crore metric tonnes of food are rotting in the national storage system, she added, and questioned why this is not being supplied to the public.
Fathimabhi, president of the association, urged the distribution of at least 35 kgs of food grains at Rs 2 as part of the public distribution system. She added that the policy was against the interests of citizens and that all families should be supplied with cooking gas.
ZP member Narayanamma, director of Komal Shobha and others were present.