BENGALURU: A day after farmers attacked land surveyors with brooms and heckled them during a land survey for the proposed Greater Bengaluru Integrated Township project in Bidadi, dozens of women sat at Byramangala Cross with pestles (onake) as a symbol of protest on Tuesday.
Suma, a dairy farmer, said she is ready to give up her life but not her land. The agitators said that if officials try to resume the land survey, they would be chased away with pestles. The farmers said they had no intention of attacking anyone on Monday, but it started when surveyors sought police help to survey the land while discussions were still ongoing.
“We demanded that the officials show the permission for the survey from the Deputy Commissioner’s Office. Instead of talking to us and giving us the details, they started the survey. Women and youngsters got enraged and started to attack them with brooms. On Tuesday, more women joined the protest at the Byramangala site with pestles,” said Mandalahalli Nagaraj, a villager.
A woman farmer said that a pestle is a symbol of agriculture, as it is used to crush seeds and grains, and it can also be used to save their land. “Yesterday (Monday) we used a broom... in case they come to touch our land, we will be forced to use the pestle against them and chase them away,” she said.
Meanwhile, hundreds of farmers who are in favour of the project blocked the Bidadi-Harohalli State Highway and demanded expediting the project and giving 9,693 sqft of developed land per acre to each farmer in exchange for their land.
They blamed the Congress government for delaying the land acquisition and removing the red zone status. They also accused Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy of politicising the matter.
HS Siddaraja, a farmer from Kanchugaranahalli, who sat on a dharna demanding the implementation of the project, said the township plan was first proposed by Kumaraswamy, and he pitched the idea of 40% developed land in exchange.
“Those lands were brought under the red zone. We cannot use this for any construction. Since water is used from the Vrushabhavathi Valley, the yield is also not good. As there is a good amount of grass, dairy farming has become the main occupation. Now there is a proposal for 9,693 sq ft of developed land in exchange for the project.
We want at least this government to take it forward,” he said. Siddaraja also dared Kumaraswamy to return 40 acres of land he allegedly purchased from a farmer, stating, “If HDK is serious about farmers’ welfare, let him give back the land to the farmer from whom he purchased at the old rate.”
