SLIP between cup and lip

Gadag farmers seething as their lift irrigation dream lies shattered

For years on end, the farmers in three districts - Gadag, Koppal and Bellary waged struggles for the Singtalur Lift Irrigation Project (SLIP) that would bring water to their parched lands from Tungabhadra.

And now, just as the canals to let the water to the fields are being dug, the owners of 10,000 acres in Mevundi and Baradur in Gadag see their dream of seeing Tungabhadra water evaporating.

They feel that the State government is trying to suppress information that Mevundi and Baradur villages in Mundargi taluk, where it is  planing to acquire more than 1,000 acres of farm land for industries, come under the project.

As per records, about 20,000 acres land in Mundargi taluk would be irrigated after the implementation of the first and the second phase works of the Singatalur Lift Irrigation Project.

Interestingly, only Mevundi and Baradur villages in the taluk would be benefited under the SLIP, which means that all the 20,000 acres come under the two villages.

This has been clearly mentioned in the minutes of the 47th technical sub-committee meeting of the Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Limited (KNNL) held on March 25, 2004.

But ironically, BJP leaders, including District In-charge Minister C C Patil, have been claiming that the land the government has proposed to acquire in the district for three major industries - Posco, Adhunik Metalik and SR Group - does not fall under the SLIP area and therefore there was no reason for farmers to protest against the government’s move.

Flaying the BJP leaders for ‘misleading’ people by giving ‘false’ information, former chairman of Sheep and Wool Development Corporation Y N Goudar said the BJP government had decided to take away the farm land “by hook or by crook.”

The government was claiming that it was acquiring only khushki (barren) land, which was false, Goudar said. All the land in Mevundi and Baradur villages would be irrigated once the SLIP was implemented completely.

Goudar said the government claimed that the land proposed for industries in Gadag district was ‘khushki’ land. But farmers in the area were growing two crops every year and water-intense crops like onion and groundnut were grown here.

Goudar urged the government to make public the MoU made with the Posco and other industries, so that farmers, who had been kept under dark since beginning, would get a clear picture about the government’s plan.

‘Nirani is lying’

Taking a dig at Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani for ‘promising moon’ to land losers, Goudar said Nirani was promising 10,000 jobs for those who would lose land in the district.

“How can it is possible in this age of information technology? Are children of farmers qualified to get important posts in the industries? The farmers’ children will end up in doing menial jobs like watchman or peon in industries. Nirani is a big liar,” he said.

Growing anger

Farmers in the villages where the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board has issued notices to acquire land for industrial purpose are raging against politicians, especially those of the ruling BJP. They voted them thinking that they would protect farmers’ interests. ‘But they have turned into our enemies. They want to suck our blood.”

The farmers are especially cut up with Women and Child  Welfare and District In-charge Minister C C Patil and Ron MLA Kalakappa Bandi. “They are rude and unethical and using threatening tactics and caste politics to snatch our land to give it to industries,” they claim.