Police thwart farmers’ protest, BDA chairman to hold meet on Saturday

By Y Maheswara Reddy | NT

Bengaluru: Hundreds of farmers made arrangements to stage a protest in front of the Bangalore Development Authority Head Office on Wednesday in support of their longpending demand, but an alert city police thwarted their plans by taking farmers’ leaders into preventive custody. The more farmers tried to go on with the protest, the more the police prevented them, stating that any protest at a public place other than the Freedom Park amounts to violation of the High Court of Karnataka’s order.

“Police did not allow us to gather in front of the BDA Head Office. The police took some of our leaders into preventive custody and chased away those farmers who tried to gather at the venue,’’ said Karnataka Raitha Sangha Anekal unit president Keshav Reddy.

It may be recalled that Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) issued a preliminary notification to acquire land for the construction of Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) to connect Tumakuru Road (National Highway 4) in the north-west to Hosur Road (National Highway 7) in the south-east of Bengaluru. The proposed PRR will pass through many areas in the northern and eastern parts of the city. The State Cabinet gave administrative approval to the project on February 9, 2022 for floating tenders inviting bidders for the construction of the 71-km road.

“Neither the state government nor the BDA authorities have bothered about paying compensa - tion to farmers for acquiring their land. The BDA has issued notices to around 4,000 farmers and site owners stating that land owned by them will be acquired for the proposed PRR, but nothing is said about our compensation,’’ said Jayaram, a farmer.

The proposed PRR will be a six-lane bi-directional divided carriageway. The BDA had notified 1,810 acres of land for the project in 2007 and another 750 acres of land was notified recently because the BDA had to change the alignment at some places where a number of buildings have come up. The BDA needs around Rs 5,000 crore to pay compensation to farmers based on the guidance value and Rs 1,000 crore if the compensation is paid as per Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013.