Board drops Harohalli land acquisition after villagers cite homes, burial sites

Bengaluru: At a time when back-to-back land acquisition proposals across Bengaluru’s fast-developing outskirts have left rural and agrarian communities on edge, Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) Tuesday offered an unexpected reprieve to residents of Kanchugaranahalli in Bidadi hobli. It stepped back from acquiring select parcels of land earmarked for Harohalli 5th Phase Industrial Area.

The decision, taken after the high court’s intervention, comes as a rare moment of relief for villagers who were locked in a prolonged legal battle to protect not just their homes and farmland, but something far more personal — resting places of their ancestors.

The denotified lands, officials confirmed, included residential structures and burial sites that villagers said were inseparable from their identity, memory and history.

Harohalli 5th Phase Industrial Area, proposed in Bidadi hobli of Ramanagara taluk in Bengaluru South district, forms part of the govt’s broader push to expand industrial infrastructure around the city. The project was first set in motion through a preliminary notification issued in Nov 2019, covering over 1,118 acres spread across villages, including Kanchugaranahalli, Kanchugaranahalli Kaval, Mudenahalli, and Yarehalli in Harohalli region.

A final notification followed in July 2020, notifying more than 679 acres under the acquisition umbrella for industrial development. However, for several landowners, the lines drawn on govt maps cut through their lived realities — homes where families have lived for generations and sacred burial sites where their ancestors were laid to rest.

What initially began as objections soon evolved into a legal battle. Villagers approached high court, arguing that the acquisition overlooked the presence of houses, ancestral burial sites and culturally significant spaces that couldn’t be reduced to monetary compensation alone. In its order dated Dec 10, 2024, the court quashed the final acquisition notification for specific survey numbers, acknowledging the concerns raised by petitioners.

That intervention became the turning point. Acting on the court’s directions, KIADB officials revisited the disputed land parcels, measuring over 2.2 acres in survey numbers 29/3 and 29/6 of Kanchugaranahalli near Bidadi, and exercised powers under KIADB Act to exclude them from the acquisition process. The decision ensures the affected families will retain ownership and continued access to land.