CM Siddaramaiah to meet farmers protesting against land acquisition near Devanahalli

Indian Express

20 hours ago

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will on July 4 meet farmers protesting against the acquisition of 1,777 acres of land, spread across 13 villages in rural Bengaluru, by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB), and discuss the matter at a Cabinet meeting on July 2.
Around 800 families from these villages in the Devanahalli-Channarayapatna region in rural Bengaluru have been protesting since 2022 against the acquisition of land by KIADB for a high-tech defence and aerospace sector park. The original decision for the land acquisition was taken in January 2022 by the BJP government headed by Basavaraj Bommai.
Amid the protests, Large and Medium Industries Minister M B Patil said last week that '495 acres of land belonging to three villages in Channarayapatna Hobli have been excluded from acquisition for the proposed hi-tech Defence and Aerospace Park'.
'Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will hold a meeting with Devanahalli-Channarayapatna farmer activists and leaders of the struggle on July 4. He will hold a comprehensive meeting on the demands and problems of the farmers,' the chief minister's office said after farmer leaders met him last week.
The issue reached a flash point on June 25 after the police dispersed a protest, and arrested some leaders.
Several national farmers' unions, including the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, objected to the use of police force to disperse protesters on June 25.
'KIADB had already acquired 6,000 acres from surrounding villages for the Haralur Industrial Area. Thousands of farmers and villagers were evicted in those earlier acquisitions, but no rightful compensation was awarded to them. In this context, the farmers firmly opposed the acquisition attempt for another 1,777 acres from the beginning under the banner of 'KIADB Land Acquisition Resistance Struggle Committee',' SKM said in a statement.
The farmer unions have accused the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government of following in the footsteps of the BJP government despite an assurance made ahead of the 2023 Assembly polls to withdraw the notification for the land acquisition if the Congress were to be voted to power.
'This is a gross violation of the 'Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Act -2013' brought by the UPA2 govt led by Congress,' SKM said in the statement last week.
The Kisan Sangharsh Samiti has expressed confidence in a resolution emerging when Chief Minister Siddaramaiah meets the farmers on July 4, 'by taking the Channarayapatna farmers into confidence and engaging in dialogue with the protesters'.
Large and Medium Industries Minister Patil and K H Muniyappa, the minister in charge of the Bengaluru rural region, said at a press briefing that the preliminary notification for acquiring 1,772.2 acres of land from 13 villages in Channarayapatna Hobli was issued on August 27, 2021, followed by a government order on February 15, 2022.
'However, it was observed that farmers from this region had already lost land twice earlier for industrial projects. Taking this into account, along with the fact that the land included irrigated farmland and human habitation, the government decided to exclude 231.23 acres in Channarayapatna, 185.18 acres in Mattibarlu, and 78.21 acres in Shrotriya Tellohalli from the acquisition process,' Patil said.
The industries minister further said the KIADB acquisition of the remaining 1,232 acres across 10 villages — Palya, Haraluru, Polanahalli, Gokare Bachchenahalli, Nalluru, Mallepura, Nallappanahalli, Cheemachanahalli, Muddenahalli, and Hadayala — would proceed.
'Compensation for the acquired land will be determined by the district commissioner. Additionally, land losers will have the option to receive 10,771 sq ft of developed land per acre, which they can use for commercial purposes,' the minister said.
'With this decision, the government has honoured the demands of the farmers. The protest should now come to an end. We must strike a balance between industrial growth and agricultural welfare,' he added.
'There is no precedent for the exclusion of land once notified for acquisition for such a purpose. But in this case, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Patil have made a pro-farmer decision. This gesture should be acknowledged, and the protest should be stopped,' Muniyappa said.