Land acquisition for GBIT is illegal, stop it immediately: BJP leader Ashoka to K'taka govt

Bengaluru, Sep 16 (PTI) BJP leader R Ashoka on Tuesday termed the acquisition of land in Bengaluru South (Ramanagara) district, for the proposed Greater Bengaluru Integrated Township (GBIT) project, as "illegal", and urged the state government to immediately withdraw from it.

The Leader of Opposition in the Assembly was addressing the farmers, who are protesting against the land acquisition, at Bhairamangala, along with other party leaders like C N Ashwath Narayan.

Two farmers, including a woman, allegedly tried to consume pesticide as a mark of protest, but police and those nearby stopped them immediately from doing so, according to police sources.

GBIT, which is touted as India's first 'AI City', is envisioned as a second central business district (CBD) for Bengaluru. Powered by Artificial Intelligence, it is planned to be developed on the work-live-play model, at just 30 km from Bengaluru.

"The Congress government is acquiring 9,600 acre of land in Bidadi, Byramangala, and Kanchugaranahalli in the name of Greater Bengaluru. Of this, 6,500 acre are agricultural land,"Ashoka said.

He said, "There are more than 10 lakh coconut and mango trees here. Daily production of 6 lakh liters of milk reaches KMF (Karnataka Milk Federation). More than 3,000 farmers and labourers depend on agriculture. They (govt) are acquiring such fertile lands and allotting sites." Noting that the Housing Board has already acquired 500 acre of land and formed sites, but no one has constructed houses there, the BJP leader said, the Kempegowda Layout and Shivaram Karanth Layout near Bengaluru are still mostly vacant.

"Acquiring fertile land when so much land is lying empty is a betrayal of the farmers. Previously, when H D Kumaraswamy was the CM, he had returned the land to the farmers saying no acquisition was needed. Now, the Congress government is scheming to loot the land and plans to make money from real estate," he said.

Asserting the BJP's support for farmers' struggle, Ashoka said the government should immediately abandon this acquisition process.

"Someone from the government should have come and listened to the farmers' grievances. They should have pacified the farmers by talking to them. Instead, they are resorting to atrocities and acquiring their land," he alleged.

"Deputy CM D K Shivakumar (who is from the district) should denotify it without any conditions and just leave it. The farmers have said they don't want any facilities, they want their land to remain as it is. Therefore the government should respect the stand of the majority of farmers," he urged. PTI KSU KH