Farmers wield political clout at BIA

Farmers wield political clout at BIA
CHANDRASHEKAR G.
BENGALURU








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Around 127.3 acres of land acquired by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) to establish the proposed hardware park near Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) has been denotified to benefit landowners with political clout.

Deccan Chronicle is in possession of documents showing that some farmers used their good offices with politicians to get their properties denotified. M.T. Rajareddy, a landowner, used the Right to Information Act to reveal a racket in the denotification of land in the area. He alleges that some political leaders, including former chief minister N. Dharam Singh, former industries minister P.G.R. Sindhia and Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, used pressure to ensure that particular properties were denotified.

KIADB had in 2006 issued a notification to acquire 869 acres from Bagalur, Hoovinayakanahalli and Mahadeva Kodigehalli villages to set up the hardware park. Mr Yeddyurappa, then deputy chief minister in the JD(S)-BJP coalition government, recommended that around 160 acres be dropped from the preliminary notification. Though principal secretary (industries and commerce) K.M. Shivakumar objected to this, around 54 acres were dropped from the preliminary notification. The land belongs to Aiman Agro Floritech, the documents obtained by Mr Rajareddy reveal.

Mr Dharam Singh recommended that 15 acres of land be denotified for Alpine Housing Development Corporation at Hoovinayakanahalli. Another 20 acres were dropped from the preliminary notification following a recommendation by Mr Sindhia.

Several farmers have refused the compensation offered by KIADB. They say that it is well below the market value of the properties and several meetings with the government have remained inconclusive.

The government fixed the compensation at Rs 60 lakh per acre at Bagalur, Rs 50 lakh per acre at Hoovinayakanahalli and Rs 45 lakh per acre at Mahadeva Koligehalli.

Raitha Horata Samiti president D. Shankarlinge Gowda demanded that the state government fix the compensation at Rs 2 crore per acre or give 11,000 sq. ft of developed land to the farmers without imposing stamp duty. Another meeting will be held between the landowners and the government later this week to finalise the compensation package.