BENGALURU: Residents and traders who own properties dotting Sai Baba Mandir Road in East Bengaluru’s Kundalahalli are in a major fix. Their homes, shops and properties are marked for demolition by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for widening the road from the existing 12m to 30m.
The civic body, on November 14 and 17, advertised a notification dated July 13, 2018, in just a section of the print media, about the properties to be demolished.
The residents have not received notices. The advertisement, too, was pointed out to them just in time, with Tuesday being the last day to file objections with BBMP against the project.
The targeted properties include paying guest accommodations, a school, a church, hotels, restaurants and supermarkets.
Angry residents want to know how banks gave them loans if their properties were illegal, how BBMP took property tax and betterment tax, and how they could get water and power connections.
On Tuesday, BBMP rejected 110 objections from residents on flimsy grounds, like lack of phone numbers, residents allege.
According to the proposed Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) 2031, the road is only 15m and has properties on either side, but BBMP records show these as vacant lands.
Sandesh Shetty, BBMP assistant engineer, Mahadevapura, said, “The BBMP notification for road widening was done as per CDP 2015. CDP 2031 is not implemented yet. The main road is 30m wide as per the plan. In the first phase, we will widen 4km from Kundalahalli Junction to Gunjur Palya.”
Ever since BBMP advertised a notice in an English and a Kannada daily that it proposed to acquire land along Sai Baba Mandir Road for the purpose of widening it, residents have spent sleepless nights.
The BBMP notification is dated July 13, but wasn’t advertised for the property owners’ knowledge until four months after it listed 36 landowners, saying, “The landowners of the scheduled properties whose lands are to be acquired shall give an option for grant of development rights to the BBMP Commissioner...”
It adds: “The landowners shall receive twice the area of land surrendered in exchange of monetary compensation as development rights (notional land) and one time the building area surrendered as estimated by the value of the building area surrendered divided by the market value of the land on which the building is constructed.” Most of the residents don’t want to surrender their land. Some argue that their constructions are not illegal as BBMP has never sent them notices till date, though they don’t have A Khata.
V Muni Reddy, 76, among the oldest landowners who has lived here since 1990, stands to lose at least 30 shops along the road. “But we have paid property tax all these years. Why didn’t BBMP say anything? Besides, there is a parallel road to this temple road that is not as densely populated. Why can’t they widen that road instead?”
Jayaram Reddy, 56, who has lived here for 10 years, says he stands to lose Rs 3 crore worth of properties if BBMP goes ahead with the demolition.
Many have outstanding home loans from banks which they took to own flats. Kannaiah Naidu, 39, a resident for 15 years, owns residential and commercial properties on the road and says he has taken a loan of Rs 3 crore, towards which he is paying the bank Rs 5 lakh every month. Apartments by the Vaswani Group, Pavani Group, Madhuri Homes, Vaastu Plaza and Basil Apartments have come up along this stretch.
Pavani Prestige apartments has 36 flats and in 2006, each cost Rs 25 lakh. Vijayan T (61), who owns a two-BHK, asks, “I am retired. Where do I go at this age with my wife and daughter?” Rishika K, who has lived in an apartment here for 10 years, said, “Nobody can sell their flats now because of this notification. How did we get BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply & Sewerage Board) connections if these apartments were illegal? There is a Montessori school and church here too.”
Shivakumar D, 37, said, “We have lived here for 12 years. No government authority objected. Why now? This notification has come as a jolt to middle-class families. We cancelled our vacations, saved up money and invested in these properties. The BBMP has no ownership details. At least 200 have signed objection letters.”
Senior citizens Devi Bhai, 60, and Amara Ram, 64, have lived in the area for seven years and taken a loan of `30 lakh and invested Rs 35 lakh in their home in Barpa Nivas.
Sravan N, 26, owns 4,800 sqft of land. His building houses More Supermarket, Zero Gym, Texture
Touch Salon, and 30 1-BHK flats, all of which stand to be demolished.
Sandesh Shetty, BBMP Assistant Engineer, Mahadevapura, insists, “Most of the buildings have been constructed illegally without plan approvals. We have called for the residents’ documents. We have been approached by four-five people so far. We asked them to get the landowners to submit documents. This plan has existed since 2007. Some constructed homes knowingly, less than three years ago, saying they were not given the existing plan,” Shetty said.