Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Aug 22: The state High Court, through an order passed on Thursday August 21, dismissed a petition filed by a few residents from near Padubidri, alleging that efforts are being made to swindle large tracts of land in the name of setting up Nagarjuna thermal power plant near Padubidri.

The High Court bench headed by Justice Hulawadi G Ramesh, which heard the petition filed by Basel Mission Church Trust president Jeevan Prasad and others, upheld the government orders and dismissed the petitions filed by the petitioners.

The petitioners said that they own some lands in survey No. 18 and 22 of Santoor village. The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board, through its first notification of 1998 and the final notification dated August 10, 2006, had acquired the lands belonging to them. The Nagarjuna Power plant wants to dig fly-ash pits in the said area. The company, in connivance with the government officials, is conspiring to annex lands unnecessarily, they had contended.