An amendment to protect land mafia

The Basavaraj Bommai government has tabled a Bill in the legislature to amend the Karnataka Land Grabbing Prohibition Act in order to grant blanket protection to those who have encroached upon government land across the state, except within BBMP limits. The Act was passed in 2012 after a joint legislative committee headed by MLA A T Ramaswamy and a task force led by former IAS officer V Balasubramanian reported that land worth Rs 40,000 crore had encroached on Bengaluru (Urban) district. The stated objective of the amendment is to exempt farmers who have encroached upon government land during agricultural operations. As per the forest department, around two lakh acres of forest land have been encroached upon across the state in the name of agriculture. The Bill seeks to close all cases of encroachment pending before the courts.

But there is already a provision in the 2012 Act that protects farmers’ interests. It lays down that farmers cultivating land under three acres should not be dispossessed of their land. There is also a provision to get such possession regularised. The real objective of the amendment appears to be, therefore, to protect the real estate mafia. Balasubramanian has noted that land-grabbers, having usurped whatever was available in BBMP limits, had spread their net to the rest of the state long ago. Ramaswamy has plainly said that “the amendment shows that the land mafia is in control of the government and not the other way around”. He has said that the administration has illegally regularised encroached land worth over Rs 2 lakh crore in the past few years.

The worst impact of the amendment will be felt on the fragile Western Ghats, which account for about 70% of the encroachments in the state. While the Kasturirangan report to declare parts of the Ghats as eco-sensitive areas is still hanging fire, the anti-land-grabbing Act had offered some protection against encroachments. If it is diluted with the proposed amendment, the land mafia will have a field day and will get away with loot and murder of the environment. It is unfortunate that in coming up with this amendment, the government clearly shows that it has not woken up to the perils of climate change and encroachments which were on full display in Bengaluru this monsoon. The amendment will embolden land-grabbers and lead to the shredding of the state’s forest cover and eco-sensitive areas. Since it is unlikely that better sense will prevail on the government, the Opposition should rise to the occasion and use all its might to block the amendment. The people should protest, too, and all legal avenues should be explored to scuttle the Bill.