Farmers demand Rs 1,500 cr in dues for KG Layout land

The work at Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout has come to a standstill as farmers have been staging a protest since Friday. So far, not more than 30% of the civil works have been completed.

The farmers are demanding compensation from the government for their land acquired for the residential colony.

Over 400 farmers are agitating against the BDA, demanding due compensation, pending to the tune of around Rs 1,500 crore.

Agitating farmers chased away the contractors on Friday night. Since Saturday morning, they are guarding their land.

The protesters have divided themselves into groups comprising about a 100 each. They are keeping round-the-clock vigil. They say they will not allow any work until the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) sort out the matter.

BDA earmarked 4,043.27 acres of land between Mysuru Road and Magadi Road for the layout, which falls in the Yeshwantpur assembly constituency. BDA Chairman S T Somashekhar is the MLA from Yeshwantpur.

In the first and second phase, BDA allotted 5,000 sites to allottees. BDA had also announced to accommodate 4,000 allottees of Arkavathi Layout.

Channappa, a farmer who owns three acres of land in Kensinapura, said BDA was to give farmers Rs 80 lakh or 9,583 sq ft of land as compensation for every acre acquired. But, the BDA gave only acquisition notices. So until the compensation is given, the land belongs to farmers.

“We submitted a memorandum to the BDA chairman and commissioner on Saturday. They tried to pacify us, but we are not convinced. We told them officials are demanding a bribe to move our files. We will not part with our land unless we get due compensation,” he said.

However, site allottees said their suffering will only increase because of the tussle between farmers and the BDA. They fear this layout will also become like Arkavathi Layout, which has not been realised even after 12 years. Kempegowda Layout is the first layout to be formed after Arkavathi Layout.

Surya Kiran, an allottee said: “First phase allottees have already been given bank notices for failing to start construction on their sites. They were given sites in 2016. We were unable to construct because there are no facilities available. Thanks to the ongoing tussle, it will take longer, which means we will suffer financial losses.”

Somashekhar, meanwhile, said issues have cropped up due to financial irregularities and the matter will be looked into.