Farmers protest move to amend land acquisition Act, block highways

Bengaluru: Thousands of farmers blocked traffic on highways across the state on Monday as a mark of protest against the government's proposal to amend the existing Land Acquisition Act, which according to them, was detrimental to all peasants.

The highway blocakde passed off peacefully as police officers had put in place elaborate security arrangements. The protest, which was scheduled to begin at 6 am, commenced at 8 am due to arrival of farmers from various places. They parked bullock carts on the highway in some places to disrupt vehicular movement. A few farmers were taken into preventive custody to facilitate flow of traffic.

Mr Mahantappa Patil, a farmers' leader said, the state government had proposed to amend the Land Acquisition Act wherein farmers would not have a say if their land was acquired for development. The previous government headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had allowed farmers to move the court if they were not happy with the quantum of compensation. Besides, there was a provision in the earlier act to announce the compensation depending on the existing market value and farmers had freedom not to part with their land in case they were not happy with the compensation.

However, the Kumaraswamy government was planning to remove all those clauses and forcing farmers to sell their land even if the compensation was less than the market price.

He said they also demanded the government to remove disparity in loan waiver which was promised within 24 hours after it came to power. Till this day, the banks were issuing recovery notices to farmers for loan default and there was no clarity on it by the CM. Farmers were not able to get fresh loan from banks without clearing the dues. They also urged the government not to sell 3366 acres of agriculture land to Jindal Steel Company.

The agitators threatened to intesify their agitation if the government failed to drop the proposed amendment to the Land Acquisition Act.