Drop move to acquire land for airport: KPRS

source- hindu

BELLARY: The Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS) has condemned the police action on the farmers of Chaganur and Siriwar villages for opposing the acquisition of their land for a new airport and urged the Yeddyurappa Government to order a judicial inquiry into Sunday’s incident. The Government should drop the move to acquire land for the airport immediately, it said.
Speaking to presspersons before leaving for Chaganur on Monday, KPRS president Maruti Manpade said that the incident has once again proved that the BJP Government was anti-farmer.
Stating that he was at a loss to understand why Janardhan Reddy, Minister for Tourism and Infrastructure Development, was keen on acquiring land for the airport. Stating that the Ministers from Bellary had not said anything about upgrading the existing airport, Mr. Manpade suspected Mr. Reddy’s stand in the matter.
Criticising Mr. Reddy for calling farmers as “goondas” and also for spreading false information that farmers themselves had agreed to part with their land, Mr. Manpade said that he (Mr. Reddy) seemed to have forgotten that he holds a responsible position in the Government.
“It is better for Mr. Reddy to stop speaking against farmers and to mend his ways as such an attitude would not take him far. There are several instances as to the kind of political end several people saw after antagonising farmers and talking ill of them,” he said. Mr. Manpade said that the Government could make use of dry/barren land for building airports instead of acquiring fertile and irrigated lands. “If at all the Government was keen on acquiring fertile land for non-productive activities, it should pay at least Rs. 1 crore an acre of land, or it should ownership rights to farmers if their land was acquired for productive activities,” he said.
“We will not allow forcible acquisition of fertile land for the airport. At the same time we hope that the Government would ensure that the future of the farmers is not jeopardised,” he said.
Mr. Manpade, while accusing Superintendent of Police Seemant Kumar Singh of acting like an “agent of the BJP, particularly that of the Reddy brothers,” urged the Government to suspend him.

Maoists blast wall of jail under construction in Bihar

February 16th, 2009 –
Patna, Feb 16 About 150 Maoists have blown up a wall of a jail under construction in Bihar’s Sheohar district on Monday. No casualties were reported.

Maoists attacked the under-construction prison in Sheohar late Sunday night and triggered the blast after forcing the workers out of the building.

Though no casualties were reported, the incident has created panic among workers engaged in building the prison.

The Maoists fled after causing the blast, but left behind pamphlets that warned of more such attacks.

Two days ago, Maoists set ablaze vehicles engaged in construction of roads in the district.