The preliminary notification issued by the Department of Commerce and Industries for acquisition of 1,011 acres in five villages of Mangaluru taluk for expansion of MRPL (Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd.) has activists and farmers locking horns with authorities yet again.
In 2011, the government had withdrawn the notification issued in 2007 for acquisition of 2,035 acres in Permude and Kuthethoor villages, following protests.
Of the 1,011 acres notified now, 865.34 acres is private land and 146.43 acres government land.
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This notification issued under Section 28 (1) of the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Act 1966, prohibits land owners from obstructing authorised persons from entering the land. It also says that any agreement, lease, change in land use, or any other transactions related to lands cannot be done without permission of the Special Land Acquisition Officer.
An officer of Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board, Mangaluru, said notices were being sent to land owners asking them to submit within the next 30 days their objection to the notification. KIADB and MRPL have also filed caveat before the High Court of Karnataka to hear them before passing orders on petitions questioning the preliminary notification.
Meanwhile, farmers and activists under the aegis of Krishi Bhoomi Samrakshana Samiti opposed the move. Lawrence D’Cunha, a farmer from Kuthethoor and samiti secretary, said the notification has been issued without making the social impact assessment as mandated under the 2013 Act.
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“The present government has failed to follow norms laid down in the Act that was enacted by the UPA government,” he said, adding that nearly 70 per cent of farmers in Kuttethoor and Permude have opposed acquisition of fertile lands.
Samiti president Madhukar Amin said: “We (farmers) are already suffering from industries that have come up. We cannot allow more petrochemical units to come up on our fertile land.”