Madikeri: Villagers and office-bearers of Somwarpet Taluk Farmers’ Association have alleged that Bettadalli gram panchayat, an ecologically sensitive area near Pushpagiri Protected Forest and Wildlife Sanctuary, is being prepared for mining activity, and warned of a protest if the govt grants permission.Taluk Farmers’ Association president KM Dinesh told reporters that an Andhra Pradesh-based company was reportedly collecting soil samples in Kannalli village near Kundalli and sending them to a laboratory outside the state for ore-related testing.He said villagers submitted a petition to the Kodagu DC through the tahsildar seeking an immediate halt to the ongoing Land Survey-2026 in Kundalli village.Dinesh said Kundalli has 280 houses and recalled that after the 2018 Kodagu landslides, similarly, soil was tested in the Bettadalli panchayat area. At that time, officials told farmers they were conducting landslide-related studies and cautioned them that if the area was found dangerous, residents might have to leave the village. He alleged that in 2025, officials again began collecting soil samples from fields, coffee estates, agricultural land and residential premises in Hemmanagadde, Kannalli, Bekanahalli, Kundalli and Nagaralli without landowners’ consent. He said farmers suspect the exercise is linked to plans for mining and insisted the association would not allow mining in the environmentally sensitive zone.He also said farmers in Shantalli hobli had been waiting for property rights for 40 years, with the govt citing C&D land status, and called it unjust if private companies were now allowed to extract ore from the same land.Village leader KB Jagadish alleged that officials entered cultivated fields, dug large pits using JCBs and collected soil, making farming difficult. He said complaints to the Shantalli GP and the departments of mines had brought no response. According to the villagers, soil samples have been collected from more than 1,000 locations over the past eight months. They claim officials indicated that nickel and cobalt deposits had been identified in Kundalli and that extraction could begin within four years. Farmers warned they would block officials entering the villages and launch a larger agitation if mining moves forward.Kodagu District Farmers’ Association vice-president GM Hoovaiah, zonal president BP Mogappa and office-bearer HE Ramesh were present.
