Kodagu district tops gun toting people

Madikeri, Karnataka, Mar 31 (UNI) The action loving Kodavas, people belonging to the hilly Kodagu district of Karnataka, own the highest number of firearms in the country.

There are about 25,000 firearms owned by the people of the small district, known for its unique brand of coffee. As many as 17,000 of these guns belong to 'jamma' land holders. The Kings had bestowed large tracts of hilly forest land to the locals, who later developed coffee estates with plants brought from Africa by the British. These planters could own a gun even without obtaining a licence.

Disclosing this after the concluding ceremony of a shooting training programme to public at Somwarpet, about 50 km from here, Superintendent of Police Ramachandra Rao said Kodagu people, passionate about hunting, owned the highest number of guns in India.

He recalled that shooting training to public began in India after the 1962 Indo-China war on the insistence of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Training could be given to all, except criminals.

The training programme was organised jointly by the Rotary Club and the Police Department.

UNI