Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday hinted that he is in favour of de-notifying certain parcels of land that had been notified for the formation of the Shivaram Karanth Layout.
Speaking at a gathering of farmers and land losers here, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that he has not forgotten that he had opposed acquisition of land for the layout when he was not in power.
“I wouldn’t abandon the cause for which I fought. The government will go by the judicial process. We’re waiting for the land acquisition Act by Union government and we’ll go by it. We will soon give land back to the farmers,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
He made this statement after the Bangalore North Taluk Land Owners and Revenue Site Owners Welfare Protection Association submitted a memorandum to him. The memorandum said that the BJP government had forcibly notified land belonging to hundreds of farmers for the extension of the layout.
Earlier, senior Congress leader V.S. Ugrappa said, “On October 11, 2010 and November 9, 2011, Congress leaders supported the torchlight protest against the acquisition of land [for the layout]. Mr. Siddaramaiah and I were also part of that protest.” Speaking on behalf of the land losers, he said, “Today, we request the Chief Minister to de-notify the acquired land and return it to the farmers.”
Like most BDA layouts, the Shivram Karanth Layout too has been dogged by controversies. On March 28, 2012, Congress leader K.N. Chakrapani had exposed the illegal de-notification of 800 acres of land meant for the layout. His party, which was in opposition, raised a furore in the Assembly forcing then Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda to order a CID probe.
“Nothing seems to have emerged out of the probe. The previous government never even followed up on the promise made by the then Chief Minister. And the CID never registered a case,” Mr. Chakrapani told The Hindu .
Responding to the Chief Minister’s assurances to the land losers, he said that it would be “improper” to further de-notify land when previous cases have not yet been investigated.
