Sharavathi project: State to make fresh bid to get title deeds for evacuees

Karnataka will ask the Union government to denotify 9,119 acres of forest land in favour of 12,000 families who lost their lands during the construction of Linganamakki dam in Shivamogga, way back in 1964.

This comes 60 years after the families were evicted and they remained without due rights.

Former chief minister B S Yediyurappa and Home Minister Araga Jnanendra - both representing Shivamogga - held a meeting here with revenue and forest officials.

"With Jananendra taking the lead along with Sagar BJP MLA Haratalu Halappa and the Shimoga MP (B Y Raghvendra), the Union government has assured the state delegation that the issue would be resolved permanently," Yediyurappa said. "Recently, the delegation met Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change Bhupender Yadav, who has assured that the issue would be resolved,” he said.

Yediyurappa added that the state government has prepared detailed proposals to hand over title deeds for lands measuring 9,119 acres to these families. "There is a dispute going on over the claim to acquire over 700 acres, which will be dealt with later as it needs to be tackled legally," he observed.

According to a statement, the 12,000 families have been collectively claiming that they lost 10,315 acres of land. However, government records show that they lost 9,119 acres. Hence, the state government would send a proposal to the Union government for 9,119 acres.

The statement further added that the Shivamogga district administration had received more claims from residents of 15-20 villages surrounding the project area, which will be looked into in the days to come.

Meanwhile, Jnanendra directed the revenue and forest officials to resolve the issue and send the proposal to the Forest ministry immediately.