BJP Mounts Pressure On Rahul Gandhi To Drop Bidadi Township Project In The Interest Of Farmers
“How can the destruction of this fertile belt, to make way for a “Work-Live-Play” concrete township, ever be called progress?”: State president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and MLA B.Y. Vijayendra
BENGALURU: Terming the proposed Bidadi Township Project in Bengaluru South district as a “state-engineered land grab,” State president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and MLA B.Y. Vijayendra on Sunday sought immediate intervention of a key decision-maker in Congress party and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to understand the anguish of farmers to part with their lands and direct Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar withdraw the project in the interest of protesting farmers of Bidadi.
A letter to Rahul Gandhi by Vijayendra explained the lands identified for acquisition for Bidadi Township are fertile and farmers grow multi-crop in the region, Bidadi lands feed Bengaluru residents by supplying fruits/vegetables among others. Thousands of rural women have built independent, self-reliant livelihoods around agriculture in the region.
Continuing, he said, the Bidadi Township project spread across 7, 481 acres stretching from Bidadi and Harohalli of Bengaluru South district to Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar belongs. The project is projected as the second Central Business District of Bengaluru.
He questioned “How can the destruction of this fertile belt, to make way for a “Work-Live-Play” concrete township, ever be called progress?”
Pointing to Rahul Gandhi, Vijayendra said “You speak of protecting India’s soil from the grip of corporate interests and you have led yatras built precisely around farmers' cause. Yet, in Karnataka, Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar is hell bent on the project.”
For over 470 days, the BJP State president said, the farmers/residents of about 25 villages in and around Bidadi have sustained a peaceful protest against the project. Yet, D.K. Shivakumar did not see fit to hold even a single public hearing on the matter. The consent of farmers to be affected by the project has been set aside entirely and the final notification was pushed through regardless of objections from the farmers.
