Doreswamy rejects govt plea to end protest against land-grab

Freedom fighter H S Doreswamy on Thursday turned down the State government’s plea to withdraw his ongoing sit-in demonstration against the government’s inaction in the land-grabbing case until concrete results are shown.

As the dharna against land grabbing near Town Hall entered the 12th day on Thursday, Law Minister T B Jayachandra called on the 96-year-old freedom fighter and appealed him to call off his demonstration.

The minister blamed the government officers saying, “I support your fight against land-grabbing. The mess has been created by the government officials either by their inaction or by their involvement in land-grabbing cases.”

He conveyed to the gathering about Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s sincerity to deal with land-grabbing cases as  reflected in a series of meetings conducted by him on this issue.

Jayachandra said, “I have met Union home minister and requested him to set up special courts as per the  recommendations of the two separate probe committees headed by A T Ramaswamy and V Balasubramanian. There is a possibility that special courts will be formed within 15 days.”

The minister then urged the Anti Land-Grabbing Action Committee led by Doreswamy to end the agitation. However, the freedom fighter turned down his plea. “We all welcome the law minister’s assurance of setting up special courts. But, until the results are shown, the protest will not be called off,” Doreswamy said.

Doreswamy warned the State government that if no measures are taken in the next seven days, he would intensify his agitation.

He said, “We give seven days’ to the Government to respond, failing which we will intensify our fight. We are not afraid of going to jail to save public land from land-grabbers.”

The protestors said that approximately 20,000 acres of public assets have been grabbed illegally in and around Bangalore City by land-grabbers who have created fake and forged documents.

The protestors are demanding immediate legal action against such criminals under the Goonda Act and to form special courts to take quick action against such cases based on the report by Ramaswamy Joint Legislature Committee on Encroachments in Bangalore Urban District, 2007.