Farmers Win As Siddaramaiah Government Cancels Controversial Devanahalli Land Acquisition In Karnataka

In a major win for protesting farmers, the Karnataka government has formally revoked its notification to acquire 1,777 acres of farming land in Devanahalli, close to Kempegowda International Airport, for industrial purposes.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced on Tuesday, after weeks of continuous protests by local farmers against the acquisition. The government took the decision after it conducted several rounds of discussions with various stakeholders, including farmers, protestors and elected representatives.

We have totally dropped the plan to buy 1,777 acres of land,” Siddaramaiah said in a press conference. “But we are willing to accept land from farmers on a voluntary basis for industrial use.

“No land would be taken forcibly” says Siddaramaiah

The Chief Minister explained that no land would be taken forcibly, but owners who agreed to give up voluntarily would get higher compensation or a larger share of the developed land. Significantly, 50 percent of the developed land would be returned to contributing farmers under the state land pooling policy.

Siddaramaiah further added that the move was taken after deeply considering the advantages and limitations of the project. The land involved is a green belt and it is being cultivated well, the CM said. In fact the land is a major source of livelihood for people in the Devanahalli area.

“The farmers approached us and asked us to exclude their land from acquisition proposals. We studied the situation and after five or six rounds of discussions, including with local MLA KH Muniyappa, we decided to withdraw the notification,” he added.

“Not extend to other land acquisition” says Siddaramaiah

Siddaramaiah also made it clear that this move is only for Devanahalli. It will not extend to other land acquisition projects in the state.

The decision of the government has been broadly acclaimed by local leaders, farmers and activists, who had expressed their concerns and fears of how industrialisation would affect productive farm land and rural lives.

The state government of Karnataka now intends to proceed with industrial development only on voluntarily contributed land by owners, assuring farmer rights and consent remain at the forefront of the process.

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