Police have registered an FIR against 15 people, including five women, after protesters opposing the Bidadi township project allegedly blocked the Bidadi-Harohalli main road in Karnataka, while Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and Union minister HD Kumaraswamy renewed their public confrontation over the proposed development.
Bidadi police said no arrests had been made and that notices would be served to the protesters for allegedly demonstrating without permission before further action is taken. The police complaint concerns a road blockade at Byramangala Circle, where farmers have been protesting for 18 months against the proposed acquisition of land in areas under the Byramangala and Kanchugaranahalli gram panchayats.
According to the complaint, protesters allegedly obstructed the Bidadi-Harohalli main road, or State Highway 265, between 10am on September 21 and September 25. Police alleged that chairs were placed on the road, protesters sat or lay on the carriageway, tractors and bullock carts were parked across it, and cattle were tethered there. The disruption affected motorists, schoolchildren, employees and goods vehicles using the route to the industrial area, the complaint said.
The latest protest, including an indefinite hunger strike, began on September 21. Farmers have also been demanding action from a high-level committee announced by the government to examine their concerns over the township proposal and the land acquisition issue.
Shivakumar said there was no question of prestige attached to the project and accused Kumaraswamy of continuing work from where he had left it during his earlier terms as chief minister. On the police action and the land dispute, Shivakumar said people who did not want to sell their land would not be forced to do so.
“I’m reiterating that those who do not want to sell their land need not sell. I do not need their land for the project. Why are they protesting? By blocking roads, they are creating problems for their own people,” he said.
Kumaraswamy’s JD(S) said it would support what it called the “true” farmers of Bidadi. He questioned the timing of the FIR, saying the government had allowed protesters to continue a five-day hunger strike on the same road. “Who gave the permission? On whose orders was the FIR lodged today?” he asked.
The dispute now involves three linked issues: the proposed urban project, farmers’ objections to land acquisition and the use of a key road serving an industrial area. Police said notices would be issued before further action against those named in the FIR. The government’s high-level committee remains the forum identified in the report for examining the farmers’ concerns.
