After Pramoda Devi Wadiyar’s claim on 4,500 acres of land, Siddaiahnapura residents meet DC

CHAMARAJANAGAR: Days after Pramoda Devi Wadiyar of the Mysuru royal family wrote to the Chamarajanagar district Deputy Commissioner staking claim to over 4,500 acres of land, villagers of Siddaiahnapura met DC Shilpa Nag on Friday and requested her not the register the village land in Pramoda Devi’s name.

The villagers told the DC that they have been living in the village for many years and questioned where they could go with their families if the royal family reclaims the land. They said that the village land was given to them by the erstwhile Mysuru ruler Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar as a donation and now, when it is being converted into a revenue village, Pramoda Devi has raised objection, they noted.

The villagers fear that if the administration accepts that the land belongs to the royal family, they will be evicted from the village and said that the DC should not register the land in Pramoda Devi Wadiyar’s name at any cost.

Portraits of Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar (left) and Srikantadatta Narasmiharaja Wadiyar adorn the wall of the village temple.

Siddaiahnapura was originally called Jayachamarajendra Puram and the villagers still have a portrait of the erstwhile Mysuru ruler which they take out in a procession every year on the occasion of the Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar’s birth anniversary. The villagers claim that the ruler had donated 1,035 acres of land to the village and in 1982, when B Rachaiah was a minister, land documents were issued to them. “Even now we take the king’s name and go about our lives”, said Nagaraju, a resident of the village.

“If the authorities transfer the land to Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, we will all go to the Mysuru palace and let her feed us and give us shelter”, said Channananjaiah, another villager. “Where are we to go? We will live and die here”, the villagers said.

“There are about 300-350 houses in Siddaiahnapura and they had sought to convert it to a revenue village last year too. The Revenue and Forest Departments have even completed a joint survey and documents were checked after going door to door. We were about the send the files of Siddaiahnapura also for conversion to revenue village, but by then we received Pramoda Devi Wadiyar’s letter. Due to this, the villagers are anxious. As per available records, the village land belongs to the government”, Shilpa Nag said.

Pramoda Devi Wadiyar of the erstwhile royal family of Mysuru has written to the Chamarajanagar district administration to transfer the properties in the names of the earlier Mysuru royals to her name.

In a letter to the Chamarajanagar district deputy commissioner, dated March 20, Pramoda Devi has pointed out that about 4,500 acres of land in Attugulipura, Haradanahalli, Ummathur, Boodhithittu, Karadihalli, Chamarajanagar, Kannikere and Basavapura are the private properties of the former royals as per the agreement signed with the Union government in 1950.

Pramoda Devi has sought that the properties on different survey numbers should not be registered to anyone else and that all the properties should be transferred to her name.