JULY 4, 2007, 11 A.M.
Nandagudi, South Karnataka
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| Nandigram Part II? An effigy of Nandagudi SEZ-promoter Nikhil Gandhi |
From the blood-letting in Nandigram, SEZ protests head south to the similar-sounding Nandagudi, a collection of 36 villages in southern Karnataka, where villagers hold up traffic and burn effigies to protest against a proposed SEZ, which, they say, will wreck their livelihood and take away their fertile farmland. Farmers have walked, cycled and hitched rides from the surrounding 36 villages that comprise Nandagudi Hobli, the new epicentre of the country's anti-SEZ movement. Two days after a long line of politicians, mostly from the opposition Congress, berate the ruling JD (S)-BJP combine for surrendering to "greedy private developers", farmers take matters into their own hands and demonstrate against this Rs 15,000-crore project. "There is an air of uncertainty with the announcement of this project and we want to ensure we're not left penniless once the project is started," says an agitating farmer.
Over the last six months, developers have made a beeline for the region, which is 20 km from Bangalore's new international airport and around 50 km from the city centre, to try and buy all the land they can. While Mumbai-based SKIL Infrastructure has bagged the mandate for the SEZ to be constructed at Nandagudi, farmers fear that "unscrupulous developers" would grab their land over the next few months. According to S.S. Lakshmish, Treasurer, Bhoo Swadheena Horata Samithi (the local farmers' collective opposing the SEZ), the 15,000 acres identified for this facility will render thousands of people jobless and destroy what is today fertile farm land. "There are over 10,000 uneducated and poorly educated people who are entirely dependent on their land for sustenance and the construction of an SEZ will sound the death knell for them, since they aren't qualified to do much else," he argues.
According to estimates from local farmers, the 36 villages in the Nandagudi Hobli produce around 18 tons of fruits and vegetables, 1.25 lakh litres of milk (including a dairy at Ittasandra village in the area, which was once the state's most productive) and 5 tons of mulberry per day (which goes into silk worm rearing) and is far from being arid or barren. "We've even used modern methods of agriculture such as drip irrigation and high-yield seeds to improve our farming techniques," says M. Muniraju, another local farmer, as he points to lush green mulberry fields as we get a guided tour through Ittasandra.
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| Present tense: (From top to bottom) Policemen on a vigil; Bhoo Swadheena Horata Samithi's Lakshmish; and a glimpse of silk rearing, a major activity in the area. |
Two days before the protests, the farmers and media are subject to a barrage of speeches from the members of a Congress fact-finding team visiting ostensibly to get a first-hand look at the area and chat with local farmers. "Let the government build SEZs and it parks on their own land and not snatch your land and your livelihood from you," declares A. Krishnappa, a former state minister and MLA. Meanwhile, D.K. Shivakumar, a Congress heavyweight and long-time baiter of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, turns up the political rhetoric further, charging the ruling JD (S)-BJP coalition with "indulging in land politics and usurping farmer's land for self gain." While the government has in principle cleared the SEZ, it won't acquire any land for this initiative, instead leaving that bit to SKIL Infrastructure, the project's promoters. "The government has nearly 4,000 acres of land around the area, but they want to bring farmers to ruin," says Shivakumar.
The Government, meanwhile, returns fire in kind, with Chief Minister H.D. Kumaaraswaamy stating that his administration has been "open and transparent about the entire process." Attacking the repeated visits by fact-finding teams, he says that, "all the tamasha being created by the setting up of a so-called fact-finding committee by Congress is nothing but an attempt to malign me and my family. While the government is always ready to look into any genuine grievance, we will not be cowed down by threats from opposition."
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While Nandagudi may have received all the attention, its neighbouring hoblis that are benefitting as a result, with land rates doubling and tripling, according to farmers. "Land prices have gone up to Rs 70 lakh to Rs 1 crore per acre right next door but even if we wanted to sell, no one wants to touch our land," says a farmer. In the last four or five weeks, realtors ensconced in their large SUVs have made trips to scope out land prices and hunt down willing sellers of land. In between these sorties, politicians such as Shivakumar & Co. have bought their cavalcade to Nandagudi every couple of days to win some quick brownie points with an often desperate and occasionally ignorant population.
In between all this mud-slinging, the founder of SKIL Infrastructure, Nikhil Gandhi, says: "We have been in the infrastructure development industry for two decades (having built, for example, India's first sea port) and we will include locals and farmers in all development." Denying the opposition's allegations, he says SKIL has roped in NGOs and academic institutes, including Tata Institute of Social Science, to make a study and recommend a comprehensive rehabilitation package if required. "We were a pioneer in infrastructure in India and our projects will only use arid and government land," says Gandhi, who raised $500 million (Rs 2,050 crore) by selling a 25 per cent stake in his company to raise funds for his new ventures.
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Despite these statements, Nandagudi farmers aren't convinced. "We don't know who this Gandhi is and we haven't seen him in our lives. According to news reports, he is the person behind this project, but we've never heard from him," says Lakshmish. Gandhi, however, says that he has indeed visited the area around eight months ago and a study by TISS is underway to determine the exact contours of the project. "We don't want SKIL or any other company on our land; we've been farmers and tilled our land for generations and are happy to make our living here. We don't want to move anywhere and undertake any other occupation," says Muniraju.
