TUMAKURU: These 28 villages will not face Gram Panchayat elections ever again. Over the next five years, all these hamlets from Koratagere taluk in Tumakuru district and Doddaballapur taluk in Bengaluru Rural will disappear from the face of the earth, as they will be acquired for Bhyragondlu dam, which is being built as part of the multi-crore Yettinahole irrigation project.
The emotional and economic cost is huge on these villagers, but they are putting up a brave front and facing this last election with enthusiasm. The common thread of worry among the villagers is the low compensation package being offered for their land to be acquired for the project, which is the major poll issue here.
"We have been told that Rs 14 lakh per acre has been fixed which is not justifiable. That is the reason we have put up educated people, like SH Ravikumar from Sunkadahalli and Sujatha M Shivaraj from Kaluvehalli, to contest the Chinnahalli GP elections. Once elected, they can fight for better compensation for us," said V Siddagangaiah, a teacher.
Of the villages that will disappear, Sunkadahalli is special, as it has a history of over 300 years and is just 8 km away from Manne, the capital of the Ganga dynasty. But still, there is hope against hope. Nagendrappa, who is one of the candidates contesting the election, wished that the village will not go under water.
He suggested that instead of building the Yettinahole project, the government should fill up 38 tanks in the district. "It is painful to see our village, where we were born, disappearing. People here are only delaying the inevitable and have not yet planned where to relocate from here," he added ruefully.
Kolala residents seek better compensation
Shivaramaiah, a Zilla Panchayat member from Kolala, said that the people are not against the project, but want the compensation on par with Doddaballapur, where the government has fixed Rs 32 lakh per acre.
"As Koratagere and Doddballapura are adjacent to each other, the compensation too should be similar. We will fight for it. Though the increase in compensation will escalate the project cost by Rs 150 crore, it should not burden the government as the total cost of the project is Rs 22,000 crore," he added.
Former deputy chief minister and Congress MLA from Koratagere Dr G Parameshwar, who led a farmers' protest recently, too said the compensation should be hiked and uniform. Raju D of Machenahalli of Sasalu Gram Panchayat in Doddaballapura taluk felt that even Rs 32 lakh per acre is not good enough.
"We were just opening up to the civilised world by improving our lifestyle by building new houses and developing our lands. This project has come as an evil force," he cursed.
"The government has approved the Social Impact Assessment report. We will soon issue a preliminary notification to acquire the land. At some places, farmers are not letting us conduct the land survey because of the compensation issue," said a top official of Yettinahole project.
The villages under Chinnahalli and Kolala Gram Panchayat of Koratagere taluk in Tumakuru district and Sasalu Gram Panchayat of Doddaballapura taluk in Bengaluru Rural will be affected as 5,479 acres will be acquired to construct the dam at Bhyragondlu.
Of these, seven villages will be completely submerged. Over 7,500 people from 1,900 families will have to relocate to new places.