The Hindu : Front Page : Deve Gowda accused of instigating farmers against Government

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 13, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

Deve Gowda accused of instigating farmers against Government

Special Correspondent

We will abide by Supreme Court’s directions on expressway project: Yeddyurappa

My Government notified only 3.01 acres of land for acquisition: Yeddyurappa
‘I will never react to the statements of
Deve Gowda or his sons’

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa

Bangalore: The controversy over acquisition of land for the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project took a new turn on Tuesday with Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa accusing the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda of instigating farmers to take to the streets.

Even as protests by farmers continued along the Bangalore-Mysore highway disrupting traffic for some time, the Chief Minister and the former Prime Minister urged them to refrain from staging protests.

Farmers burnt effigies of the Chief Minister and Ashok Kheny, project promoter, at Bidadi and Channapatna.

Activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who staged demonstrations on Monday in protest against Mr. Deve Gowda’s remarks about Mr. Yeddyurappa, did not continue their agitation on Tuesday.

After a meeting of the State Cabinet, the Chief Minister told presspersons that the Government would abide by the directions of the Supreme Court (the Framework Agreement) on the BMIC project. It would not part with any land other than the 20,193 acres mentioned in the apex court order. “I want to know the intention of the former Prime Minister in using foul language against the Chief Minister and also instigating farmers. Never in independent India has a former Prime Minister or a former Chief Minister of any State used such vulgar language. Is he attempting to vitiate the law and order situation in the State? what is his game plan?”

Mr. Yeddyurappa gave details of land allotments made for the project by successive governments, and said, “This in itself is a White Paper on the project.”

Earlier in the day, Mr. Deve Gowda demanded that the Government come out with a White Paper on the execution of the project conceived in 1995.

“The White Paper should cover implementation of the project during the tenures of the five Chief Ministers concerned. It will expose those responsible for deviations in the project from the original plan conceived during his tenure as Chief Minister in 1995,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that his Government had notified only 3.01 acres of land for acquisition and handed over 251 acres of land (for the road segment) to the project promoter of which, 248 acres was notified by the previous government. Of the previous governments, the one headed by J.H. Patel had issued a notification to acquire 18,701.27 acres of land. The S.M. Krishna Government had issued a notification to acquire 2,236.06 acres of land and handed over possession of 6,040 acres to the project promoter. The Dharam Singh Government gave possession of 862 acres to the project promoter. The H.D. Kumaraswamy Government had issued a notification to acquire 204 acres of land and handed over 142 acres. These documents were with the Government and they were open to scrutiny. Even the lease amount of Rs. 10 per acre of government land was fixed by the Patel Government “and not my Government”, Mr. Yeddyurappa said.

Mr. Yeddyurappa said he would never make any more references or react to the statements of Mr. Deve Gowda or his sons. “People are watching and they know it better. I wanted to place the facts relating to the project, and I have done it now,” he added.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page