The Hindu : Karnataka News : Devanahalli farmers unhappy over compensation deal

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Friday, Dec 21, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Devanahalli farmers unhappy over compensation deal

Staff Reporter

Going rate is
Rs. 1 crore for an
acre, say farmers
They have rejected the compensation offered by KIADB

BANGALORE: The compensation package announced for acquisition of land in seven villages around the Devanahalli international airport for the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) has left farmers high and dry.

Farmers, who have been expecting a higher compensation for their land, are disappointed over the compensation fixed by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB).

The KIADB is acquiring 918.18 acres in seven villages of Bangalore Urban and Bangalore Rural districts for the SEZ in which a cluster of aerospace and aircrafts components is expected to come up.

While farmers were expecting a compensation of about Rs. 1 crore an acre, the KIADB has fixed Rs. 30 lakh an acre in Bangalore Rural district and Rs. 35 lakh an acre in Bangalore Urban district as compensation to farmers.

“The going rate for the land in the area is more than Rs. 1 crore an acre and the compensation fixed by KIADB is not acceptable to us. The area around the airport is witnessing a realty boom and the compensation fixed is meagre,” D.S. Gowda, president of Raitha Horata Samithi, told The Hindu.

A copy of the resolution passed by the KIADB states that the rates fixed for compensation excludes buildings and crops.

In their recommendations to the KIADB, the deputy commissioners have calculated the transactions and guidance value for the previous three years before preliminary notification for acquisition was issued.

The acquisition process is likely to affect around 450 families, most of whom are small and marginal farmers at Dummanahalli, Singahalli and Unachur villages in Bangalore Urban and Jonnahalli, Baladimmanahalli, Kavadadasanahalli and Batramaranahalli villages in Bangalore Rural district, all falling within five-km radius of the airport. Farmers have cried hoarse in protest against the acquisition process.

“In fact, we were told that the consultative committee meeting in which farmers were invited to discuss the compensation portion was inconclusive. We are shocked at the rate fixed by the KIADB,” Mr. Gowda said.

While the consultative committee meeting for the urban district was held on August 4, the meeting for rural district was held on August 27, and the KIADB passed its resolution on December 5.

He said: “The officials had said that the decision to award compensation would be left to the Government and the rates were not announced.” Besides, Mr. Gowda said, farmers had been promised a compensation of at least Rs. 50 lakh during a meeting with the then Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in March.

Mr. Gowda said the samiti members would meet Governor Rameshwar Thakur seeking justice to poor farmers.

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