Sunday, 21 October 2007 01:29
If the Karnataka Government gets its planning right, then Bangalore is all set to witness a massive phase of development with a cluster if five privately built satellite townships spread over a total of 60,691 acres around this cyber city known as Silicon Valley of India.
The intent of the new regime in the Bangalore to develop Satellite Township is seeing majority of bidders jostling hard to grab the project which is to be created on 9684 acres of private land, in Ramanagaram constituency. Indeed, the list also includes the names of major construction consortiums such as Shanghai Urban Construction Corporation and Singapore based Jurong Construction Company.
Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy is personally pitching for the calculated amount of 30,000-crore townships project.
The project draws its inspiration from the countries like China, Singapore, and the US. On completion, it would enjoy the status of being one of the biggest township projects in the country. It is all more unique as it promises to make life easy for the residents by offering a host of amenities minus the congestion, traffic, in a serene atmosphere, explains planning official at the state urban development department.
However, a local farmers’ protection group is raising protest banner against the project, arguing that the land acquisition for the first township at Biddai located around 39 km from Bangalore, will kill the livelihood of around 25,000 farmers.
This community oversees it a futile attempt to progress development of the city at the cost of the local farmers who have no other source of income. H T Lingappa, president of the Sri Ranganatha Raitha Hitarakshana Sangha, a forum of farmers, claims that land being acquired includes traditional belts of coconut, mango, sugarcane and vegetables.
According to BMRDA officials, no member of the farmer community will be persuaded to shift beyond the township and get enough compensation by the Karnataka government as well. They will be integrated into the main stream of economic activities in the coming township.