Bengaluru business corridor: Farmers submit over 1,000 objections to Bangalore Development Authority
Bengaluru: In what could be seen as a collective show of strength, thousands of landowners have collectively submitted more than 1,000 objections to the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), raising concerns about the legal validity and compensation framework of the proposed 74-kilometer Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) project, now rebranded as the Bengaluru Business Corridor (BBC).
The objections have been formally submitted to the BDA, and the landowners are now demanding that these grievances be presented to the Karnataka High Court.
“The court has given us a date (December 2) for hearing regarding the objections we have filed and also directed the officials to not conduct any survey related to project,” The New Indian Express quoted Mavallipura Srinivas, President of the PRR Raitha Haagu Niveshanadarara Sangha (Farmers and Site owners association), as saying.
Farmers from various villages along the PRR's proposed alignment gathered at the BDA office to submit both individual and consolidated objections. Many of them have accused the BDA of launching what they describe as an "illegal land grab," asserting that the project is a violation of their rights.
The farmers' objections center on three main points: first, that the PRR scheme has legally lapsed, as the BDA failed to pass land acquisition awards within the required five-year period; second, that the wrong acquisition law is being applied; and third, that the state's recently announced "five-option" compensation package is both unlawful and discriminatory.
According to the farmers quoted in the report, the PRR scheme, approved in 2007, automatically lapsed under Section 27 of the BDA Act, 1976, because the BDA failed to pass land acquisition awards within the required five-year period. They argue that any attempt to continue land acquisition under this lapsed scheme is unconstitutional and contradicts established legal precedent.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
