Karnataka: Farmers offer land for Posco plant

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BANGALORE: In a twist to the Posco land acquisition saga, a group of farmers from Halligudi and JantiShirur villages, whose land h..

BANGALORE: In a twist to the Posco land acquisition saga, a group of farmers from Halligudi and JantiShirur villages, whose land has been identified for the proposed steel plant, met Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday and gave their consent in writing for the land acquisition.
A day after Yeddyurappa announced dropping acquisition plans owing to opposition from farmers, over 70 farmers from Halligudi and JantliShirur, who collectively own about 2,000 acres of land, met Yeddyurappa at his official residence Krishna and urged him not to shift the project. About 3,380 acres are needed for the plant."Over 80 percent of farmers are ready to give up their land. But this fact has been eclipsed by the highdecibel antiacquisition movement being carried out in the Gadag district. The media has also neglected the views of the real farmers and is instead only highlighting the other side of the story," Somashekhar Channalli, a farmer from Halligudi, told reporters after meeting the Chief Minister and Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani.

The farmers also claimed that those who are leading the agitation were not farmers and own no land in the site identified for the steel plant. "We want the Posco plant to come up in our district. It will not only boost economic development of the area but also provide employment opportunities to our children," they said.

"We have about 800 acres of alternative land, which is adjacent to the Posco site. The government can acquire that land too," they said.