Farmers dig heels in, say wont cooperate with Bengaluru Development Authority

BENGALURU: As the Bengaluru Development Authority(BDA) moves ahead with the final phase of the Peripheral Ring Road, rebranded as Bengaluru Business Corridor (BBC), and initiates land acquisition, discontent is brewing among farmers. Claiming that their demands made during the recent meeting have been ignored, farmers say the project advances while their compensation and livelihood concerns remain unresolved. The farmers collectively say they will not cooperate with land acquisition officials. Jagadish Reddy, a land loser, said, We have collectively decided not to cooperate with land acquisition officers until a fair, transparent, and farmer-friendly approach is adopted, preferably compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement, as per the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARR). Our stand is not against development, but against injustice. Speaking about how BDA is acting on its own accord, Gopal Reddy, a farmer whose land is notified in Sulikunte village near Sarjapur, said, None of our demands have been addressed after the recent meeting BDA held with the land losers. They cannot do whatever they want, we will not cooperate with officers who will be coming to acquire our lands based on the 130-year-old Land Acquisition Act, 1894. They have given us five options to choose from, as means to compensation, but in all five options we are the losers. I am a farmer who cultivates flowers. My livelihood is taken care of with the cultivation, but if I give up my land I have to go job hunting and ultimately lose more than just land, he added. Farmer Krishna Ramesh said, The five options are no good for us because in every way we are at a loss, in the whole of Karnataka it is only BDA which has not adopted the LARR Act, which would give us a decent compensation. He added, Since all the five options are not viable to me, I will not give up my land unless BDA renotifies the land to only 65 meters width, which it needs currently, and compensate farmers as per the LARR Act, which provides tax benefits and also rehabilitation and resettlement.