From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Jul 8: Hundreds of students of four government schools and a junior college in Matadahalli near J C Nagar in Bengaluru have succeeded in forcing the Army personnel to beat a hasty retreat.
The students, however, owe a huge vote of thanks and gratitude to Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar for coming to their rescue.
The representatives of the government educational institutions, local leaders along with State Government officials called on Parrikar during his visit to the Central Government owned HAL headquarters along with Union Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation D V Sadananda Gowda in Bengaluru on Thursday.
After hearing the delegation and the State Government officials, the Defence Minister asked the Army personnel to back off and vacate the school premises immediately.
The State Government’s promise to provide alternative lands to the Armed Forces in return for allowing the status quo clinched the issue and Parrikar told the Army personnel not to create any problems or pursue recovery of the land, if the State gave alternative land for the same, according to Sadananda Gowda
The students, teachers and parents had staged a snap protest to prevent the defence personnel from recovering the land and demolish the structures on the premises on Tuesday, which resulted in a huge furore forcing the newly inducted Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanvir Sait to intervene and request the Army authorities not to precipitate matters.
Parrikar also promised to sort out many other similar issues involving the Army and local authorities, if the State Government provided alternative lands in return for Defence lands.
The State Government has promised to provide larger extent of land outside the city limits in return for nearly 34 acres of land in dispute with the Army in different parts of the city, Sadananda Gowda said.
While the Army authorities will not interfere with functioning of the local authorities or educational institutions with regard to defence lands in dispute, he said the State Government will have to make a formal proposal after due approval from the State Government to seal the agreement.