KRRS members stage dharna, oppose amendment to land acquisition Act

They oppose amendment to land acquisition act

Members of Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha and Hasiru Sene staging a demonstration at Sangolli Rayanna Circle in Shivamogga on Monday.

Activists of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) staged a road blockade at Sangolli Rayanna Circle in Shivamogga city as part of the State-wide protest opposing the government’s move to amend the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act. Vehicular movement between Shivamogga and Honnali was disrupted for some time owing to the protest.

Addressing the gathering, H.R. Basavarajappa, working president of KRRS, said that a Bill to introduce the amendment to the Act was passed by the State Assembly in February. The amendment was detrimental to the interests of the farmers, he alleged.

Mr. Basavarajappa said that, at present, prior to land acquisition for development works, it is mandatory to conduct a study on the social and environmental impact the land acquisition may cause and to hold public hearing meetings. He expressed displeasure that, through the amendment, the State government is planning to grant exemption from conducting social and environment impact assessment for the development projects that it considers are of public and national importance.

Expressing apprehension that the amendment would result in forceful acquisition of cultivable land for development projects, he said that there were no proper guidelines in the Bill on the amount of compensation to be paid for the farmers for land acquisition.

The protesters raised slogans demanding the State government to backtrack from the amendment.

The functionaries of KRRS staged a similar road blockade in Shikaripur town against the amendment. Farmers also staged demonstrations in Hosanagar, Tirthahalli and in Sugur village in Shivamogga taluk over the issue.

In Hassan

The Hassan district unit of KRRS staged a dharna on National Highway 75 (Bengaluru-Mangaluru highway) on Monday as part of the State-wide protest.

The farmers, who took out a march from the Hemavathi Statue Circle, staged the dharna near Boovanahalli, stopping vehicles for a few minutes.

They said the law, which was in force before 2014, was in favour of the real estate lobby. The Central government brought in a new law to benefit the farmers. However, now the State government has proposed amendments to facilitate the acquisition of farmland without the consent of farmers. The protesters urged the government to not to amend the law.

Anekere Ravi and others led the protest.