Chamalapura like struggle in the offing

Farmers up in arms against proposed acquisition of 25,000 acres of land for Land Bank in the district

After the proposed Chamalapura Thermal Power Project that was later shelved, they are facing a threat of losing lands again.

Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) has identified a total of 25,000 acres of land in the district for acquisition in the name of ‘Land Bank’, according to convener of Association of Concerned and Informed Citizens of Mysore (ACICM) M Lakshmana.

Notice

Notices are being served on  the farmers, as is the process before initiating any measures to acquire lands. This includes 4,689 acres of lands comprising H D Kote and Hunsur taluks.

Following instructions from Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister Murugesh M Nirani, the officers concerned have inspected various villages in all the taluks in the district. This was followed by reports to the government by KIADB officers, engineers, land acquisition officer, revenue inspectors. Majority of the lands identified for acquisition are fertile rich that includes those dependent on borewell water with standing mango groves, coconut groves, banana plantation among several other crops.

The irony is, in Hallada Manuganahalli alone 990 acres of land are marked for acquisition to facilitate coming up of a resort, alleged M Lakshmana accompanied by former Minister Kote M Shivanna who had taken media persons to few such villages on Tuesday.

Difficulty

It would be difficult to find the farmers owing large tracts of land in Hallada Manuganhalli, as the maximum a farmer owns here is five to six acres, and minimum 10 to 20 guntas.
For monthly purse they grow vegetables. Lucky are those who harvest thrice in a year thanks to borewell facility. In the case of others who are dependent on rains to feed the crops, they have to be satisfied for two crops per year. Ahead of second notice that is yet to be received, farmers have held a round of meeting. They have resolved to take upon the government by not receiving the notice, warning of intensified struggle against the efforts to take possession of land.