The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Protest against SEZ, CDP master plan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 22, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Protest against SEZ, CDP master plan

Staff Reporter

Congress to organise demonstration in Bangalore today to highlight lapses

R. Ramalinga Reddy

BANGALORE: The Bangalore unit of the Congress has organised a protest demonstration on Sunday to highlight what it has described as the failure of the Janata Dal (S)-Bharatiya Janata Party Government to deliver on all its promises for the development of Bangalore.

The former Minister R. Ramalinga Reddy, who is president of the Bruhat Bangalore District Congress Committee, told presspersons here on Saturday that the H.D. Kumaraswamy-led coalition Government was deliberately obfuscating issues over the Special Economic Zone planned at Nandagudi, where prime agricultural land was being alienated for development. The interests of farmers and those dependent on agriculture for a livelihood were being ignored, he said.

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre had taken up the SEZ scheme on a massive scale with the purpose of creating jobs for the youth and ensuring the integrated development of the country without compromising on food security and traditional livelihoods, but the State Government was not taking it into consideration, he said.

Mr. Reddy said the State Government had demonstrated its lack of vision by releasing the master plan for Bangalore city two years too late, plainly with the intention of turning Bangalore into a concrete jungle. Of the 1,300 sq. km under the master plan, 800 sq. km was within the Greater Bangalore limits, while 500 sq. km was to be the green belt and agricultural areas. Nearly 200 villages had already been included and non-agricultural development was going on at a fast pace, leaving no room for strengthening the livelihood resources of the villages, he said.

The Congress protest was also against the Government taking away land from poor farmers and handing them over to real estate developers. Mr. Reddy said they would also protest against the move to charge a fee for treatment in government hospitals.

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