Bangalore: There is growing opposition to the auctioning of land retrieved from encroachers in and around Bangalore, the proceeds of which the Government says it wants to use to fund the programme of waiving cooperative loans given to farmers, weavers and fishermen.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha - Hasiru Sene on Tuesday demanded that the auctions be stopped immediately.

Addressing separate press conferences, secretary of the CPI(M) Bangalore District Committee Prakash K. and Sangha president Kodihalli Chandrashekar demanded that the recovered land should be converted into sites and allotted to poor people instead.

Mr. Prakash said the Government was claiming that it had handed over hundreds of acres of retrieved land to the Bangalore Development Authority, the Karnataka Housing Board and the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board for distributing sites to the poor. But the demand was such that the land might not be sufficient to meet the requirement.

Campaign started

He said that his party, along with other organisations, had started a campaign asking poor people to submit applications for sites to the authorities concerned. Initially 25,000 people would submit applications.

Mr. Prakash urged the Government to reserve land for hospitals, schools, playgrounds, crematoriums and other civic facilities in different localities. Huts put up by the poor and `bagar hukum' cultivation should be regularised. Suitable compensation should be given to farmers and they should be properly rehabilitated when their lands are acquired for development.

The CPI(M) announced that it would launch a struggle opposing the auction of land, demanding distribution of ration cards to families living below the poverty line and withdrawing the unit system. Thousands of people would take out a procession in Bangalore and stage a 48-hour dharna at Banappa Park on June 18.

Mr. Chandrashekar took exception to Bharatiya Janata Party State president D.V. Sadananda Gowda and others donning the green towel, which was the symbol of the farmers' movement launched by the Sangha in the State in the 1980s. He urged the Government to provide uninterrupted power supply to farmers free of cost.

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