Devanahalli flies into agony, ecstasy

Devanahalli flies into agony, ecstasy
Deccan Herald

In Devanahalli’s altered economy, nouveau riche farmers are still busy counting their land compensation spoils. However, on the fringes of the 4,000 acre-plus airport land, people are in various stages of apprehension on life after the airport.......

In Devanahalli’s altered economy, nouveau riche farmers are still busy counting their land compensation spoils. However, on the fringes of the 4,000 acre-plus airport land, the cracks on the feel-good is all too evident. Literally. On a visit to six villages–Anneshwara, Arasinakunte, Doddasanne, Mylanahalli, Yerrappenahalli and Yerthagenahalli–bordering the site, Deccan Herald caught people in various stages of apprehension on life after the airport.

Houses in Mylanahalli, which lies close to the airport boundary wall, have started to have cracks in its walls. The villagers point fingers at a quarry–around 300 feet off the village–from where they say aggregates are taken for the airport construction.

Rajanna, a villager, says his four-year-old house had a minor jolt from one of the dynamite blasts at the quarry. “Utensils on the kitchen racks were shaking and cracks appeared on the walls and the ceiling,” he says. Byre Gowda’s six-month-old house has also developed cracks, like in around 30 houses in the village.

On cross-roads

According to the villagers, the airport project has hampered road connectivity as well. A M Mariyappa, former MLA-Devanahalli says with the Budigere-Bettakote Road closed, residents of Anneshwara have to take a five-km walk to Devanahalli to board buses. He says autorickshaw drivers demand anything between Rs 50 and 100 to run short distances.

“Now, Devanahalli is almost a 20-km road drive while on the earlier road it would have taken just eight kilometres,” says Chandrappa, a resident of Yerrappenahalli.

Residents of Mylanahalli and Yerrappenahalli, two of the prominent villages in the sericulture belt bordering the airport, say the industry has been hit by the dust emanating from the construction site. According to the residents, dust-ridden mulberry leaves have started to kill the silkworms, triggering apprehensions among farmers. Though some of the villagers complain about the rising sound levels emanating from the construction site, this is not a widely dreaded threat yet.

Even as the airport is set for a 2008 launch, the villagers are not counting out issues like future evacuations.

Many of them have invested their compensation amounts on sites elsewhere. And those who didn’t own lands to be compensated.

Spaced Out

The enormous human displacement in the villages acquired for the airport has also led to a scattered workforce. Out-of-work labourers dot the village alleys, playing cards and smoking away the time at hand. “Truckloads of labourers come from other areas for the airport construction, while we sit here and watch,” says Chennappa, a resident of Yerthagenahalli.

Chennappa has deposited his Rs 10-lakh compensation – as per the standard Rs five lakh-per-acre deal–in a bank and is pinning hopes on the returns. Residents of Mylanahalli add that around 100 bovi families depending on their borewell-digging breadwinners have also been hit by the land acquisition. On the contrary, farmers say that labourers are hard to come by as most of them have stopped working and are busy spending the money earned from the sold lands.

FLIGHT ON GROUND

As work on the Bangalore International Airport in Devanahalli gathers pace, the project continues to change people and lives around. In a three-part series, Deccan Herald looks at how the airport has spelt a barrage of worries for some, new riches for many, and realty boom for a lot.