Karnataka Kargil Veteran Consumes Pesticide After 22-Year Wait For Land Grant

A 58-year-old Kargil War veteran allegedly consumed pesticide in Karnataka’s Chikkaballapur district after pursuing a government land grant for more than two decades, according to media reports.

Shivananda Reddy, a resident of Rayapalli village in Chintamani taluk, consumed pesticide at Pravasi Mandir in Chintamani on August 28, shortly after addressing a press conference in which he alleged that officials in the revenue department had delayed his land allotment and that corruption had obstructed his application.

He was initially taken to a government hospital in Chintamani and later shifted to the Chikkaballapur district hospital. He was subsequently moved to Bengaluru for further treatment and is recovering.

Reddy joined the Indian Army in October 1987 and served in areas including the Kashmir Valley, Poonch, Nowshera, Gujarat and Punjab. During the 1999 Kargil War, he was injured during a night patrol in the Poonch sector after he and four other soldiers fell into a 50-foot gorge. He suffered severe fractures in his legs and underwent surgeries in Udaipur and Pune. The injuries left him with a permanent limp.

He was discharged from the Army in 2004 with retirement benefits. At the time, he received an official recommendation for a land grant in recognition of his military service. Reddy subsequently spent more than two decades pursuing the allotment, approaching elected representatives, ministers and the Chief Minister, besides holding demonstrations, sit-ins and padayatras.

In 2022, Reddy announced a march to the Chief Minister’s residence. A local tahsildar intervened and persuaded him to withdraw the protest, assuring him that his application would be considered. The land allotment, however, remained unresolved.

Reddy had also approached the Lokayukta in 2022, alleging that ₹10 lakh had been demanded to process his land application. Three people, including two government employees, were arrested following the complaint, according to the report. Reddy alleged that his application was subsequently kept pending because of his complaint.

Revenue officials, however, have disputed the claim that the government had simply failed to offer him land. They said rules permit land allotment to ex-servicemen but maintained that suitable land was not available in and around Chintamani and that Reddy had been informed of this.

Officials also said Reddy had earlier been offered two acres of land but rejected it on the ground that it was uncultivable. A residential site was also offered to him, which he declined, according to a revenue official.

Police said Reddy’s statement had not yet been recorded as doctors had not declared him fit to give one.