Bengaluru, 16 July

Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that he was trying to revive the HMT project in Bengaluru, but the State government was stopping him, calling it “politically motivated”. 

Kumaraswamy alleged that the Karnataka government was “attempting to derail efforts” to revive the public sector undertaking by raising disputes over the land.

“Not just in Bengaluru, but across six locations in the country, HMT factories once functioned successfully. Today, all six units are struggling to survive,” he said. 

Kumaraswamy said the issue is about protecting a public sector enterprise that once employed over 25,000 workers and had established manufacturing units across the country.

“I have called you only to present facts that will open the eyes of the people of the state and those running the administration,” he said. He alleged that attempts were being made every day to break up HMT land on the pretext that portions belonged to the Forest Department, while maintaining that the PSU possessed all legal documents and that the matter was pending before the Supreme Court.

However, Minister Eshwar Khandre countered his claims, displaying a copy of the Mysore Gazette dated 28 September 1961 and saying, “If such a condition exists even for granted ‘patta’ (lease) land, shouldn’t the same condition apply to forest land?”