Revenue Minister R. Ashok has assured coffee planters that the State Government will resolve the issue of encroachment being faced by the planters for decades. The Government was contemplating a policy to allot encroached extent of land on lease to the growers.
“For decades coffee planters have been treated as land grabbers. We are making honest efforts to remove that tag. I am here to listen to your woes and find a solution,” he said during an interaction programme with planters here on Wednesday
As per the records, the Minister said, in Hassan district about 30,000 acres had been encroached upon. In Chikkamagaluru district, the extent of land encroached by planters is 45,00 acres. “This has happened over several generations. We will collect details of encroachments by planters and take a decision benefiting those who hold a small extent of land,” he said.
Regarding planters being tried under the Karnataka Land Grabbing Prohibition Act, the Minister said agriculture holdings would be exempted from the purview of the Act.
Minister for Excise K. Gopalaiah, who is Minister in charge of the district, said Kerala had resolved the issue of land encroachment by the planters. Karnataka Government would also take a decision to help the planters. Earlier, Karnataka Growers’ Federation president H.T. Mohan Kumar said the existing law had been treating planters as land grabbers. “We don’t grab land, but cultivate it. We are cultivators. The Government should stop treating us as land grabbers on the lines of those who grab land in cities,” he said.
Hassan District Planters’ Association president Subrahmanya, Hassan MLA Preetham Gowda and others were present.
