The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Deve Gowda to meet Kalam over `land grabbing' in Bangalore

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 01, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Deve Gowda to meet Kalam over `land grabbing' in Bangalore

Special Correspondent

Alleges that prime land is being usurped by land mafia and real estate agents

BANGALORE: The former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda has said that he will meet the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and the Chief Justice of India, R.C. Lahoti, to draw their attention to the issue of land grabbing in and around Bangalore.

Addressing a large gathering of slum-dwellers, autorickshaw drivers, daily-wage workers and others who attended the "Daridra Narayana" rally organised by the Janata Dal (Secular) here on Saturday, the former Prime Minister said prime land in and around Bangalore is being usurped by land mafia and real estate agents without any check. This has not only rendered the Government that much poorer but also deprived the poor of shelter. The rally was also called "rally of the poor in the hi-tech city."

The rally was planned a fortnight ago after Mr. Deve Gowda heard the grievances of some slum-dwellers whose houses had been demolished by the land mafia to make way for a joint venture infrastructure project. Even as he promised that he will take up the cause of slum-dwellers, the former Prime Minister received complaints from several quarters over instances of land grabbing. The struggle for the cause of poor people in urban areas has thus mixed up with the land grabbing cases. A number of slums in Bangalore are in the core part of the city, and with the sharp increase in real estate prices, they have now become prime property.

The meeting with the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court has been contemplated since the alleged land mafia continued with the construction of buildings on encroached lands armed with stay orders. Further, the landowners who had obtained stay orders could not get them implemented following the alleged collusion between the authorities and the land mafia.

To visit slums

Mr. Deve Gowda, who has brought the matter to the notice of the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh (with reference to nine acres of land valued at Rs. 80 crores allotted to the Geological Survey of India which has been encroached upon), said he would be happy if the Congress President, Sonia Gandhi, could join him in preventing land grabbing. The Janata Dal (S) has extended support to the Congress to form the coalition Government in the State and it is for the latter to respond to the fight for the cause of the poor. "I plan to visit at least two slums in Bangalore every month. I will be too happy if the Congress President also plans a visit to some of the slums in Bangalore," he added.

The former Prime Minister said the problems faced by the poor have multiplied in recent years, thanks to liberalisation and privatisation and the adoption of the American economic model. India should have an economic model that is a blend of the American and the agriculture-based rural economy that prevails here. The gap between the haves and the have nots is widening, and a few have become wealthy overnight.

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