BENGALURU: Even as Bengaluru Development Minister D K Shivakumar announced during his recent visit to the BDA office that the 73-km Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) will be given top priority by the new government, voices of dissent are growing among land losing farmers.
With their lands stuck in limbo for the past 18 years, in the aftermath of the notification issued for their acquisition, they are neither able to sell it, nor has the BDA been able to arrive at a consensus with them on the “right” compensation. The project, that will form a circle around the city, beginning at Hosur Road and linking with Tumakuru Road and Nice Road, has sharply divided the farmers, with a good number demanding that it be scrapped.
BDA had issued a preliminary notification for acquiring land in September 2005, while the final notification to acquire 1,810 acres spread across 67 villages, was issued in 2007. Gopal S Reddy, an engineer turned farmer, said four acres of land owned by his father in Sulikunte village were notified. “We are into floriculture. However, we cannot develop it in a major way through agricultural loans as all know our lands would be taken away for PRR.”
Explaining the urgency for compensation, Reddy said his mother is a diabetic and requires a liver transplant urgently. He has filed a petition in the High Court pointing out that since the project was not completed within five years, as mandated by the BDA Act, it should be treated as lapsed.
Residents’ Welfare Association of Maruthi Nagar secretary Rajan says, “A total of 105 land losers in Yelahanka’s Venkatala village had filed a petition in the high court to leave their lands out of PRR, as they were not mentioned in the preliminary notification.”
The objective of decongesting the city through PRR is redundant now, Rajan felt. “The STRR project is 60 per cent complete. Kogilu Road, Jakkur Road, Bagalur Road and Rajanakunte Road have been widened, with traffic segregation in both directions, and take away the traffic load. PRR cost too has gone up manifold,” he said. “My mother was very upset when she learnt our house would be acquired for PRR through the preliminary notification, and passed away a year later. Similarly, many senior citizens have died waiting for compensation,” he said.
N S Srinivasan (90) died in January 2023, waiting for compensation that would have helped him take better care of his wife Savitri, an Alzheimer’s patient. BDA officials said there was no question of backing out of the project.
PRR has boosted land value, says KRRS leader
Karnataka Rajya Raithya Sangha leader N Raghu said he and many other farmers are happy with the project as it has boosted their land value. “We want much higher compensation. BDA wants to give me B4 crore for my 2.1 acre property, just 3km from Electronics City. If the Land Acquisition Act 2013 is followed, I would get nearly B22 crore.” A Supreme Court order on January 20, 2022, offered BDA immense relief and directed it to follow the old compensation scheme.