Row over land acquisition resurfaces as Devanahalli farmers resume their protest

The row over the move to acquire vast tracts of fertile farmland in Channarayapatna hobli of Devanahalli taluk for the proposed aerospace park has resurfaced, with farmers resuming their dharna on Saturday as the government is yet to withdraw the acquisition notification despite a promise by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to shelve the acquisition process over 50 days ago.

It may be noted that a preliminary notification for acquiring 1,777 acres of land in 13 villages of Channarayapatna hobli was issued in 2022. Following this, a group of local farmers had begun a dharna against the land acquisition at Channarayapatna on April 4, 2022. Ahead of the 2023 Assembly polls, Mr. Siddaramaiah, then Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, promised the protesting farmers of shelving the land acquisition if voted to power.

But despite such an assurance, the final notification for land acquisition was issued in April 2025. The farmers had broad-based their protest with the support of national farmers leaders and progressive personalities.

Finally, they withdrew their 1,198-day protest on July 15 this year after the Chief Minister promised to shelve the acquisition process. However, the Chief Minister had made it clear that if farmers come forward voluntarily to give up their land, they will be given either more financial compensation or more share of the developed land.

But now, the Devanahalli farmers are bewildered as the government is yet to issue any order or directive on withdrawal of the acquisition process. “But what came as a shock to us is the notice issued by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) in two of the villages asking farmers to attend a meeting to come to a consensus on fixing the compensation for their land, a few days ago,” says Ramesh Cheemachanahalli, a local farmer leader, who is part of the core group of farmers associated with the protest.

This angered the protesters who visited the KIADB office to register their opposition. “The KIADB officials told us that land acquisition would be confined to only those come forward voluntarily. But the notices issued to farmers do not mention this. The officials are not ready to clarify this either in writing nor is there any formal notification to this effect. Following our resistance, they have indefinitely put off the farmers’ meeting which was scheduled on September 2,” he said.

He argued that land acquisition by consent would not work out in this case as the extent of land available with farmers who are ready to give it up is just around 150 acres as against the total requirement of 1,777 acres.

Taking exception to the government not coming out with a written order on withdrawal of the acquisition process, the farmers resumed their protest at Channarayapatna from Saturday, he said. “We want a clarity and an end to this ordeal. The farmers want to meet the Chief Minister again to bring pressure on him to issue a notification as per his earlier promise. We are having a meeting with the Samyukta Horata Karnataka, that took the lead in turning the farmers’ protest into a widespread campaign, soon to chalk out the next course of action,” Mr. Ramesh said.

He asserted that there was no question of withdrawing the protest this time till the government walked the talk.