Farmer protests had previously forced the govt to drop land acquisition plans
Bengaluru: Farmers and landowners from five villages in Devanahalli and Doddaballapur taluks are preparing to launch an indefinite protest against Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board’s (KIADB) proposal to acquire 1,200 acres near the Foxconn facility, while social welfare minister KH Muniyappa has written to chief minister DK Shivakumar and industries minister MB Patil, urging them to drop the acquisition proposal. Documents show KIADB plans to acquire 1,200 acres across the five villages. It issued a preliminary notification about two weeks ago to acquire 369 acres in Dandudasa Kodigehalli and Sonnamaranahalli. The board is preparing to issue notifications for another 831 acres in Koira, Mayasandra and Meesaganahalli. Chikkegowda KM, a farmer from Koira, told TOI that more than 1,000 people had recently protested the proposed acquisition at the Bengaluru Rural deputy commissioner’s office. Chikkegowda said KIADB had acquired more than 1,000 acres in neighbouring villages, including Ramanathapura, Rabbanahalli, Aruvanahalli, Doddagollahalli, Byradenahalli, Linganahalli and Konaghatta in the past three years. In his letter to the CM and industries minister Patil, Muniyappa noted that the govt had already acquired more than 9,000 acres in Devanahalli taluk for the international airport and industrial projects.
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“All farmers are opposed to the acquisition,” he said. We will protest until the govt drops the proposal,” he said. Madhuchandra KG, another farmer, said villagers were preparing to erect a pandal for the indefinite protest.
The opposition comes amid growing concerns among villagers over the loss of agricultural land to industrial projects in neighbouring villages over the past three years. Farmers from Dandudasa Kodigehalli and Sonnamaranahalli in Doddaballapur taluk, and Koira, Mayasandra and Meesaganahalli in Devanahalli taluk, are already holding village-level meetings to mobilise support for the protest. He alleged that local politicians had discouraged farmers in those villages from opposing the acquisition, resulting in the loss of fertile agricultural land. “We will not make the same mistake. He claimed the villages proposed for acquisition fall within the Arkavathy river catchment area and alleged that establishing industries there would violate the law. Meanwhile, farmers submitted a memorandum to Muniyappa, also the local MLA, seeking his intervention to stop the acquisition. He urged the govt to avoid further land acquisition in the taluk. Download the TOI App.