BENGALURU: Farmers and landowners affected by the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) project have announced a protest outside the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) office on January 13, seeking the intervention of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and demanding compensation strictly under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (RFCTLARR Act).
Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha representative Raghu, who is leading the protest, demanded transparency from the BDA and a review of the compensation process.
“We have cooperated for years in the hope of Bengaluru’s development and trusted the government to provide just compensation under the 2013 Act. Instead, the government has chosen a backdoor route by approving new compensation schemes through a Cabinet decision,” he said.
The protesters demanded that Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar review the decision, failing which they urged the Chief Minister to intervene.
Farmers alleged that despite filing an affidavit in the HC in 2015 assuring compensation under the 2013 Act, the BDA is now acting contrary to it. They further alleged that officials, from clerical staff to IAS and KAS officers, were coercing farmers to accept compensation under the outdated Land Acquisition Act of 1894.
According to them, officials, accompanied by police personnel, were creating an atmosphere of fear in villages to obtain signatures on pre-drafted consent applications. The farmers said they would gather at 12.30 pm on January 13 and warned of intensified protests and individual legal action if their demands were ignored.