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Around 50-60 farmers protesting the proposed Bidadi Township project were detained by police on September 25 after they refused to vacate a stretch of the Bidadi-Harohalli Road at Byramangala, where they have been staging an indefinite hunger strike.
The farmers have been protesting the proposed Greater Bengaluru Integrated Township (GBIT) project for nearly two years. Their hunger strike entered its fifth day on September 25. The protesters demand that the government address their concerns over land acquisition and that the high-level committee headed by retired High Court judge Justice Guhanathan Narendar, formed to examine the project, visit the affected villages and hear their grievances directly.
The detention came after JD(S) leader Nikhil Kumaraswamy visited the protest site to extend support to the farmers.
According to the protesters, police arrived at the site on September 25 and asked them to vacate the road. When the farmers refused, police detained them. The protesters also alleged that police dragged women farmers and forced them into police vans.
The farmers said the government had not sent any official or elected representative to the protest site despite their prolonged agitation. They also said three farmers fell ill on the second day of the hunger strike and were subsequently hospitalised.
As part of their ongoing agitation, the protesters had parked tractors and bullock carts at the site and installed a Ganesha idol. They demand that the committee constituted by the state government hold hearings at the gram panchayat level, allowing farmers, agricultural labourers, sharecroppers, women, and elderly residents to directly submit their grievances.
The protesters also questioned the requirement for affected residents to register at Nadakacheris (village office) with Aadhaar cards and land documents before submitting representations to the Deputy Commissioner.
The proposed GBIT project is planned across villages between Bidadi and Harohalli in Bengaluru South. A preliminary notification issued in March 2025 proposed acquiring 7,481 acres across nine villages. Final notifications have subsequently been issued for portions of the proposed project area, including about 518 acres across three villages.
The project has faced sustained opposition from a section of farmers and local residents who fear losing agricultural land and livelihoods.
The Karnataka government, meanwhile, maintains that farmers will not be forced to give up their land. Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said in July that not a single gunta of land would be acquired forcibly, and that only farmers willing to surrender their land would participate in the project.
In August, the state government constituted a four-member committee headed by Justice Guhanathan Narendar to examine the differing views on the Bidadi Township project. The committee was tasked with examining the project’s legal, humanitarian, and developmental aspects and submitting its recommendations to the government.
The government has described the proposed township as an integrated development project with infrastructure such as roads, metro connectivity, housing, parks, and other facilities. The project has nevertheless remained a point of contention between the government and protesting farmers.
