BENGALURU: Senior BJP leaders, including Leader of Opposition in the Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, urged the forest department not to evict Dalit farmers from their lands in Mahadevapura constituency in Bengaluru.
Narayanaswamy said that in 1950, the government had allotted the lands in Bidarhalli Hobli to farmers. Since then, they have been cultivating, and it is not correct to evict them.
On Monday, the BJP leaders staged a protest near the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Vidhana Soudha. The BJP leader accused the Forest Department officials of continuing with the eviction drive, despite a stay order against it.
Former BJP MP S Muniswamy said the government is registering false cases against the farmers protesting against the drive. The BJP leader said if that was a forest, the land given to the Railways, Metro, police station, and other purposes, should also be cleared. Responding to the BJP leaders’ allegations, Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre said it is a reserve forest and cannot be allotted or granted for any other purposes.
He said 120 acres was like a no-man’s land, and some people claimed it to be their land and cheated others by trying to sell it. The Forest Department is taking back its land without evicting anyone, he said. It will remain as forest land, the minister added.