Hubballi: Having waited six long years for Tata Metaliks steel plant to come up in the district, Haveri has now lost patience as the delay is proving costly to the farmers, whose land was to be acquired for it.
The district administration has written to the state government to withdraw the notification for land acquisition and allow the farmers to cultivate it, particularly as it is still fertile.
The company had signed an MoU at the Global Investors Meet held during BJP rule in the state to invest Rs 15,000 crore in the plant. The KIADB issued a notification in 2010 to acquire 1,600 acres from Agadi and Boodagatti villages for the steel plant, but with no progress since on setting it up, farmers have been having a hard time as they can neither cultivate their land nor develop it while the acquisition is pending.
“The company has been very slow in establishing the steel plant as it has not got the required mining license from the Union government. It has also not invested any funds to acquire the land earmarked. So a decision has now been taken to return the land to the farmers after discussing the matter at the meeting of the Karnataka Development Programme,” said Haveri deputy commissioner, Dr M V Venkatesh.
The company took hundreds of farmers to Jamshedpur in two batches to allow them see for themselves how developed the industrial town is. Many were convinced and welcomed a similar plant in Haveri, but the Tatas did not take a third batch of farmers to Jamshedpur after mining was banned by the Supreme Court in Karnataka.
