BENGALURU: Several critical civic projects in Bengaluru have remained stuck as there has not been much movement on a land exchange deal discussed between state authorities and Defence Ministry.
According to BBMP officials, the land exchange deal between the BBMP and the Defence ministry was agreed to in principle last month, but the approval for it still hasn’t been obtained. The deal involves BBMP getting 62 acres of land in core areas of the city and in return, they will provide about 207 acres of land near Anekal. The land in core areas is expected to pave way for as many as 23 critical projects in the city.
To push for these projects, civic officials had met Parrikar in the city during July last year, and the CM had agreed to hand over the land required in exchange for land of the same value, in accordance with the Army’s policy. He was also expected to push for the exchange and get it done in quick time. However, in March 2017, he left the post of Defence Minister. And people working to push the deal through believe his absence from the Ministry has delayed the land exchange deal.
The BBMP has been working with retired Army officers to get approval for the deal. One of them, retired Army Major Promod Kapur has been actively involved in this regard and he met BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad on Thursday. He had earlier met both Union Minister Anant Kumar and Parrikar. He is planning to meet Anant Kumar again to try to expedite the land deal, and also current Defence Minister Arun Jaitley.
He said, “We have been working on this for the past couple of years. If Mr Parrikar had continued for another month in the office, the deal would have been ready.” Major Kapur said he hopes the deal to be finalised in the next couple of months.
“Anant Kumar is working on the issue and Kumar and Jaitley, both handling multiple ministries, need to find time to meet and push the deal through,” he added. Army officials have also been inspecting the land. Some of the critical projects include the Ejipura-Hosur Road elevated corridor and a railway underbridge in Banaswadi.
A BBMP official said for projects to construct a railway over bridge or an underpass, another option was to take the land for lease from the Army for a nominal amount of `1 per sqft per year. The official said BBMP had submitted the proposal in September to the Army DEO as per Parrikar’s instructions.
What’s the deal?
The land-exchange deal between BBMP and Defence was agreed to last month, but the approval is yet to come.The deal involves BBMP getting 62 acres in core areas and in return, they will provide 207 acres near Anekal. The land in core areas is expected to pave way for 23 critical projects in the city.