BENGALURU: Many farmers from villages in Sarjapur hobli of Anekal taluk have received notices from Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) stating that their lands will be acquired for industrial purposes.
The board is set to acquire 1,050 acres of land for the state government’s ambitious SWIFT City (Startups, Work-spaces, Innovation, Finance, and Technology) in Sarjapur.
SWIFT City will have offices, residential areas, and co-working environments to support startups.
KC Devaraju, a farmer from B Hosahalli village, said, “My family has three acres and 16 guntas of ancestral land. We completed ragi harvesting recently. We get water at a depth of 300 ft even now.’’
Devaraju and other farmers from B Hosahalli received notices from KIADB in October last. In the notices, officials from KIADB stated that they will acquire 400 acres of land in B Hosahalli.
Neither Devaraju nor other farmers were consulted before notices were issued to them by KIADB.
Devaraju said farmers from B Hosahalli send around 10 truck loads of vegetables and fruits daily to KR Market and to the market in Madiwala in Bengaluru.
Similarly, KIADB will acquire around 600 acres of land at Andenahalli near Hosahalli. According to documents available with TNIE, the state government, at its cabinet meeting in February last, stated that only dryland will be acquired for the project.
But farmers from these villages said that they grow ragi, vegetables and flowers with water from borewells and other sources.
Farmers plan meeting in B’luru on Jan 4
Kiran Kumar, who got a notice 20 days ago, said, “I have 2.5 acres of land where I grow vegetables and roses with water from my borewell and nearby lakes. We are not ready to give our land. We have staged a protest thrice and we are ready even for a legal fight.’’
Swaroop Reddy, joint secretary, Bharatiya Kisan Sangha, Anekal unit, said over 700 farmers from eight villages have received land acquisition notices.
Of the 1,050 acres of land notified for acquisition, farmers are cultivating 800 acres. No survey has been conducted and local panchayat members and officials have not been consulted. The government is expediting the land acquisition process.
He said the government has filed a caveat before the high court and many farmers have received notices in this regard. There is a rule that land cannot be acquired within 100 metres of gram panchayat limits. But this rule has been violated, he alleged.
Farmers have submitted a letter to officials stating that they are not ready to part with their land. Around 5,000 farmers from villages across Anekal taluk will hold a meeting on January 4 opposing the government’s move to acquire land.
“We want the government to hold a public hearing on land acquisition. We will take out a padayatra from Attibele to Vidhana Soudha soon,” said another farmer. Recently, a drone, which was used to conduct a land survey, was destroyed by farmers.
According to KIADB sources, when a preliminary notification is issued to farmers, they can file objections. “The objections will be placed before a committee and if they are genuine, action will be taken accordingly,” the sources said.