Govt won't acquire land by force, says minister

Addressing a press conference in Bangalore, Nirani said small scale industries would be provided a year’s time (from the day of handing over land) to set up their projects, while heavy industries like cement and steel plants would get a deadline extending between three and five years.

Industries will forfeit the land allotted to them if they fail to set up their plants. Besides, industries will not be allowed to go for change of land use at any cost, the minister said.
He said a total of 1.21 lakh acres of dry land had been identified for the land bank scheme, of which preliminary notification has been issued for 57,016 acres and final notification for 28,917 acres.

Nirani said major industrial groups like Arcelor Mittal and Posco would have not chosen Karnataka for their mega projects if not for the creation of land banks. He denied allegations that farmers were forced to part with their lands for setting up industries.

Only dry land was being acquired and that too with the consent of farmers. Farmers in Bellary taluk had voluntarily parted with 2,000 acres of land for the Arcelor Mittal Steel plant, he said.

Nirani said the industries department, starting from July 4, will hold talks with farmers of Mundargi taluk in Gadag district opposing the Posco steel plant. Only a small section of farmers were opposing the project and the government was confident of convincing them, he said.

He also rubbished former prime minister H D Deve Gowda’s allegations that the KIADB had illegally allotted 6.07 acres belonging to SRS Institute to Narayana Hrudyalaya.

The minister said SRS Institute had been given compensation for their land after issue of final notification. Besides, the survey conducted by the KIADB and the Revenue department for the joint measurement certificate did not find any buildings in the land, the minister said.