Prosecute companies misusing govt land: Minister

Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Thursday said the government will take action against all those who have violated the terms of agreement for setting up food processing units in the State.

Intervening a discussion on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s address in the Assembly, he said he has come across a number of instances where private companies have tried to misuse land allotted to them at subsidised rates to set up the units. The government has put such projects on hold and permission will be accorded only if the project is genuine, he added.

Earlier, Congress MLA A S Patil said a number of companies and individuals have misused lands allotted to them by the government. An individual who got 100 acres of land at Rs one lakh per acre for setting up a food processing park in Bagalkot later sold the land at Rs 30 lakhs per acre. Majority of the agreements in this regard were signed and land was allotted during the previous BJP government, he added.

Many other Congress MLAs including Ajay Singh, Shivanand Patil and Ramesh Kumar urged the government to take action against such individuals and companies.

Ramesh Kumar said that a comprehensive probe should be ordered into the utilisation of lands allotted for industrial purpose in the last 20 years and those found to have misused should be prosecuted.