The Hindu

Mangalore, Feb 4: The eight Kudubi families whose land was allegedly encroached upon in violation of a High Court stay order by officials and contractors of Mangalore Special Economic Zone Ltd. on Sunday got some respite on Tuesday from the district police and Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP.

On orders from the Superintendent of Police, personnel from the Bajpe police station on Tuesday supervised repairs to the fence, which had been pulled down by the MSEZ officials on Sunday.

A poster has been put up on the fence announcing the High Court stay order.

Assurance

Mr. Kateel assured the Kudubi people of all support and took Ramchandra Bhandarkar, MSEZ official, to task for Sunday’s incidents. He told Mr. Bhandarkar, “If you continue to intimidate and harm the Kudubis, I will initiate action against you.”

Later, Mr. Kateel told presspersons that the Kudubi people had repeatedly refused to part with their land and that there was no way the MSEZ or any other company could forcibly acquire fertile farmland.

On the reported conflicting statements of the BJP leaders on the MSEZ, he said that he would meet Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and apprise him of the situation. “In any case, the Chief Minister has said that there will be no forcible acquisition of fertile farmland,” he said.

Three-month study

He said that he would conduct a three-month study on the controversial project and submit the findings to the State and the Union governments.