H D Kumaraswamy slams Bidadi township plan, calls it ‘official real estate business’

Bengaluru: Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday accused the Karnataka government of turning the proposed Greater Bengaluru township project near Bidadi into an “official real estate business” and demanded that the land acquisition process be stopped immediately.

Addressing a press conference at the Janata Dal (Secular) party office in Bengaluru, Kumaraswamy alleged that the government was targeting fertile agricultural land in eight villages under the guise of urban development, integrated townships and business corridors.

He said the affected villages included Byramangala, Hosur and Kanchakarahalli in the Bidadi region of the erstwhile Ramanagara Assembly constituency.

“Today, the Congress government in Karnataka is officially entering into the real estate business by taking away farmers’ land,” Kumaraswamy said while criticising the proposed integrated township project around Bidadi.

He was referring to the Rs 18,133 crore Greater Bengaluru Integrated Suburban Project at Bidadi in Bengaluru South district, which was approved in the April 30 Cabinet meeting.

The project will cover about 7,481 acres across nine villages in Bengaluru South district and Ramanagara taluk.

The Union Minister said he had proposed integrated townships around Bengaluru in 2006 after studying the city’s infrastructure problems and had planned five such townships at places including Hoskote, Solur and Satnur.

He said those proposals were intended to decongest Bengaluru and were discussed extensively with farmers, unlike the present project which, he alleged, was being pursued without genuine consultation.

Recalling meetings with farmers during his tenure as Chief Minister, Kumaraswamy said a woman from a farming family had once warned him that compensation money would eventually be exhausted and displaced farmers would be pushed onto the streets.

He claimed that the current government was reviving old township concepts only for commercial gains and questioned why earlier a fact-finding committee reports opposing such projects had not been placed before the Cabinet.

Referring to infrastructure initiatives during his earlier tenure, Kumaraswamy said he had proposed a tunnel road from Minsk Square to Hebbal through a Korean company at an estimated cost of Rs 30 crore and had later approved an elevated corridor project from Silk Board to KR Puram with a Rs 9,000 crore allocation. Similar projects were now being pursued at vastly inflated costs.

“They openly say this project will generate profits of Rs 33,000 crore. Is this development or retail business? Is this a real estate business?” he asked.

Questioning the compensation package offered to farmers, Kumaraswamy said the government was offering only Rs two crore to Rs 2.25 crore per acre in some places despite earlier land valuations around Eagleton Township being fixed at nearly Rs 12 crore per acre during a previous Cabinet decision.

He also questioned claims that 80 per cent of landowners had already consented to the project.

“On what basis was Rs 12 crore fixed then, and why are farmers now being offered only Rs two crore?” he asked.

He alleged that no proper social impact assessment or village-level consultation had been carried out before initiating the project and accused officials of conducting meetings without visiting villages.

According to Kumaraswamy, protesting farmers had been prevented from entering the Deputy Commissioner’s office and subjected to police action.

“There has been no social impact assessment. That is mandatory. The DC never visited any village.” Kumaraswamy said the affected villages were fertile irrigated regions where farmers cultivated silk, coconuts and vegetables and where dairy farming supported thousands of families.

He questioned the government’s claims that AI cities and industrial projects would create meaningful employment for rural youth and women dependent on agriculture and milk production.

He further alleged that the government was threatening compulsory acquisition if farmers refused compensation packages and accused it of violating constitutional safeguards protecting private property.

“What they are doing is nothing but official real estate brokerage in the name of government. They are grabbing fertile agricultural land,” he alleged.

The Minister also claimed that official documents projected revenues of over Rs 33,000 crore from the project over a 15-year period and questioned whether the exercise was intended for public welfare or revenue generation through land sales.

Demanding that the project be withdrawn, Kumaraswamy said he stood firmly with farmers protesting against the acquisition process and urged the government not to “destroy farmers’ homes” in the name of development.