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Inconsistencies galore in land acquisition for tech park

Sharath S. Srivatsa

Officials accused of not conducting survey in two villages

Information technology park to come up near Bengaluru International Airport
KIADB criticised for arbitrarily recommending denotification

BANGALORE: Several inconsistencies have cropped up in the acquisition process of 1,074 acres of land for the proposed information technology park near Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) even as the Government is expected to shortly issue the final notification for land acquisition.

Minister for Large and Medium Industries Murugesh Nirani has cleared the decks for the final notification, according to the documents available with The Hindu.

The Department of Commerce and Industries has finalised the proposal to acquire 1,074.21 acres of land despite inconsistencies in denotifying land and doubts whether any survey was conducted, said A. Albert Victor, a sericulturist set to lose 12 acres of land.

The information technology park is to come up in Bandi Kodigehalli (B.K.) Palya, Singhahalli, Arebinnamangala and Gollahalli villages, all in the vicinity of BIA. Though the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) wanted to acquire 2,000 acres adjacent to the hardware technology park, the department issued a preliminary notification on August 7, 2006 to acquire only 1,209.09 acres of land.

Inconsistencies

The department in May 2007 observed several inconsistencies in the KIADB proposal for final notification. The Principal Secretary, Department of Industries and Commerce, criticised the KIADB for arbitrarily recommending denotification of some land while ignoring genuine claims. “During this process, many genuine landholders did not receive notices for acquisition,” alleged Mr. Victor.

For example, while the KIADB special land acquisition officer recommended denotification of land in survey numbers 21/1 and 21/2 of Gollahalli and survey number 106 of Shingahalli, he recommended acquisition of other land despite the presence of houses, poultry farms, mango orchard and vineyards, according to documents obtained by residents of the villages under the RTI Act.

Castigating this, in a letter to the KIADB, the Principal Secretary said there were pockets of land that had coconut, mulberry, poultry farm, mango, grapes and others, which merited denotification. “The acquisition officer’s claim that these genuine pockets come in the centre of the plan is also far from truth,” he said.

According to Mr. Victor, the KIADB asked another acquisition officer to submit a proposal. This officer recommended deletion of 54 acres. However, those that had farms and vineyards were not on his list.

The affected villagers alleged that the Revenue and KIADB officials did not conduct the survey or Joint Measurement Certificate (JMC) process in two villages: Arebinnamangala and B K Palya. Sketches for these two villages contain the signature of only KIADB officials, Mr. Victor said. The Revenue Department officials have not signed these sketches. “When the joint survey has not been completed, how can the officials prepare the proposal for final notification for acquisition,” the sericulturist asked.

B. Anjanappa, a farmer in B.K. Palya, complained to the KIADB about the absence of a joint survey in his village. Reacting to this, the KIADB asked its acquisition officer twice whether this was true. As recently as June 9, the KIADB reminded the officer that he had not replied to the query.

“These instances show that all is not proper with the acquisition process. Further, a writ petition is pending in the High Court. We have come to know that the department intends to notify land leaving aside 46 acres that belong to the petitioners,” Mr. Victor said.

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