‘Jamma’ lands were given to the people by Mysore maharajas

A final decision is expected today

The people of Kodagu district have threatened to march to the Vidhana Soudha in large numbers on July 30, if the Government failed to withdraw the order by Wednesday. The people of the region are angry with the stance of the Revenue Secretary, who is stated to have unilaterally mentioned in the circular that ‘jamma’ and ‘bane’ lands in Kodagu, which were under cultivation for several centuries, are owned by the Government.

In other words, the people who have been cultivating nearly three lakh acres of coffee and cardamom plantations in the districts have been labelled as encroachers.

Owing to his preoccupations, the Chief Minister directed Home Minister M.P. Prakash to chair a meeting on Monday and arrive at a solution.

Among those who attended the meeting were Revenue Minister Jagadish Shettar, Higher Education Minister D.H. Shankaramurthy, Kodagu district in charge Minister Ramachandra Gowda, the former Minister, M.C. Nanaiah , Mangalore MP D.V. Sadananda Gowda and legislators B.A.Jivijaya, K.G. Bopaiah and Arun Machaiah.

The ‘jamma’ and ‘bane’ lands exist only in Kodagu district and these lands were made over to the people by the erstwhile maharajas of Mysore and other rulers.

The people of Kodagu have been fighting for the ownership of the trees on their ‘bane’ lands over the past four years. The ban was introduced following a circular issued by the Forest Department which stated that the owners of such lands enjoyed limited privileges and could not claim ownership over the trees. Most parts of Kodagu districts comprise two varieties of lands — redeemed and the unredeemed.

The owners of the redeemed lands were absolute owners of the given lands, including that of the trees therein while the owners of unredeemed ‘jamma’ lands were owners of only the land and not the trees.

Mr. Nanaiah said that a former Conservator of Forests and the Revenue Secretary had “conspired” to dispossess the lands of a large number of people.

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