Retired SC judge Gopala Gowda terms Bidadi Township notification ‘void’
On the 500th day of the farmers’ agitation against the Bidadi Township Project in Bengaluru South district, the protesters participated in a public hearing with
On the 500th day of the farmers’ agitation against the Bidadi Township Project in Bengaluru South district, the protesters participated in a public hearing with retired Supreme Court judge V. Gopala Gowda, who alleged that the preliminary notification for the project would itself be held “void”. The protesting farmers raised several concerns, ranging from the loss of self-reliance to the loss of steady sources of income that would follow if the acquisition was carried out. While the public hearing was also open to farmers supporting the township project, none attended, although they have set up a small camp just 50 metres away from the venue. Farmers’ plight Manjunath, a farmer from Kempashettidoddi, said that he owns just 16 guntas of land and earns over ₹60,000 a month from it. “When my land is acquired, I will get a very low sum, and I cannot buy fresh land nearby due to the exorbitant rates. Where shall I go and work?” he questioned. He further stressed that there are about 150 people in his village who do not own any land, and the impact on them would be unimaginable.
“Many people are struggling to find jobs today, and unemployment is one of the biggest problems in the country. We are self-reliant now. Where should we go after giving up our land?”Shambhavifarmer from Siddayyanadoddi Adding to this, Rajanna from Bairamangala Mattadabailu village said that about 2,000 people residing in 26 villages do not own any land but earn their livelihood through dairy farming and leased farming. The same issue was raised by several others, who stressed that this is why a social impact assessment is required and alleged that the Greater Bengaluru Development Authority (GBDA) had been evading it. Padmavati from Anchipura Colony said that she had raised her children through farming and helped them secure good jobs, but agriculture is all she knows, and her identity is closely linked to it. “Although my daughter secured a free engineering seat in a top college, we sent her to pursue a B.Sc. in Agriculture, simply because of our love for this occupation. How can they snatch this away from us?”SujathaAralaalusandra Nagaraju from Nanjegowdanadoddi alleged that farmers opposing the project are being threatened through indirect means.
“Some farmers are being told that their land is forest land just to create fear,” he said. In many instances, relatives are claiming stakes in the land that do not exist,” he said, stressing that the entire project has created division among them. Notification invalid Gowda raised several issues regarding land acquisition and land conversion and said that the acquisitions cannot be carried out legally. He noted that the villages notified for acquisition are still under the jurisdiction of the Ramanagara-Channapatna Development Authority and that the GBDA cannot issue acquisition notifications under the Karnataka Urban Development Authorities Act, 1987 (KUDA). Gowda also pointed out that the project scheme must first be formulated and receive the assent of every stakeholder (farmers), after which a notice must be issued and widely publicised before being incorporated into the final notification. He said this process had not been followed. “Even today, Bengaluru gets coconut water, ragi, and vegetables from Bidadi. Now, to decongest Bengaluru, they need Bidadi again. Have they reviewed the impact that destroying these villages will have on Bengaluru?”H.M. Venkateshfarmer On exempting the social impact assessment from the acquisition process, Mr. Gowda said that exempting the survey under Section 10(A) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement Act, 2013 (RFCTLARR), is unconstitutional.
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