Holehonnur Residents Rally Against Proposed Ring Road, Set to Protest in Shivamogga on Sept 11

When the Urban Development Department sent out a fresh Road Network Grid Plan covering 52 towns in Karnataka, most of the officials were probably looking at spreadsheets, not at the farmers in Holehonnur who suddenly found their fields pencilled into a proposed ring road.

The order, dated July 18, earmarks ring roads for a handful of towns in Shivamogga district – Holehonnur, Tirthahalli and Hosanagara – as a way to ‘regulate growth and expansion’. In plain language, it means a wide‑angle road looping around a town that already has a decent set of arteries.

For the people of Holehonnur, the plan feels anything but helpful. Their concerns boiled over at a meeting held on Tuesday in the nearby hamlet of Sugur, where farmers from Holehonnur and surrounding villages gathered, sipped tea and, frankly, got a little worked up. The main worry? The ring road would carve through fertile land spread over 26 villages, essentially turning crops into concrete.

“We don’t need another ring road,” said one farmer, gesturing toward the map on the wall. “Our town already connects nicely to Shivamogga, Bhadravathi, Chitradurga and Davanagere. The bypass on the Chitradurga‑Shivamogga highway (NH 369) has actually reduced traffic, not increased it.” He added that the drop in vehicle flow had, paradoxically, slowed the town’s growth prospects, so building more road now seemed premature.

Adding a political voice to the crowd, H.R. Basavarajappa, president of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, told The Hindu that “nobody here wants a ring road. The purpose of the project is fuzzy – we have decent connectivity, what we need is better maintenance of the existing roads, not a brand‑new loop.” He noted that the petition deadline was fast approaching, urging residents to submit their objections to the Assistant Directors of the Directorate of Town and Country Planning.

In a show of solidarity, the farmers resolved to march on Friday, September 11, to Shivamogga city, where they will voice their dissent in front of the district administration. They plan to carry placards, chant slogans, and, if needed, present a detailed list of the 26 villages that stand to lose arable land.

While the government’s intention may have been to spur development, the ground reality in Holehonnur is that the community values its agricultural heritage and fears that a new ring road could slice through livelihoods. The upcoming protest will test whether the authorities will pause, rethink and perhaps tweak the plan, or simply push ahead with the blueprint drawn on paper.