Karnataka   

Deve Gowda announces awareness tour

H.D. Deve Gowda

BANGALORE: Criticising the State Government for creating a “land bank of 1.7 lakh acres by snatching fertile agricultural land from farmers purportedly for setting up industries”, the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda on Wednesday announced a State-wide tour beginning February 16 to create awareness among the farming community.

“Have the industries come forward to set up their plants and submitted project reports seeking allocation of land? Why is the State Government acquiring vast tracts of agricultural land by putting several lakh families of farmers to hardship?” Mr Gowda asked while addressing presspersons here on Wednesday.

He urged Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa to make public statistics on the number of industries that have evinced interest in operating in the State and the quantum of land they had sought.

He criticised the manner in which the State Government had gone about acquiring vast swathes of prime agricultural land by uprooting the farming community from their traditional occupation.

“Once the Government has notified the land for acquisition, the farmer cannot do anything. He can neither raise loan on the land, construct a shed nor can he sell and mortgage the land. Thousands of farmers have been put to a lot of inconvenience by the ad-hoc and arbitrary manner in which the State Government is acquiring land”, he said.

Of the 1.71 lakh acres of land bank, 1.47 lakh acres is owned by farmers who are regularly growing crops. Even the remaining 23,000 acres of land, a major portion is fertile with people sowing crops, he said.

On February 24, the Janata Dal (Secular) will hold rallies in all districts to protest against the land acquisition and submit a memorandum to the respective Deputy Commissioners. A protest meeting will be held for Bangalore Urban and Rural districts at a venue on the outskirts of Bangalore. “The venue is yet to be finalised”, he said.

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