Though the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has started sending allotment letters to those who have been allotted plots at the ‘jinxed’ Arkavathy Layout, the allottees are still anxious as the BDA is yet to form the layout.
Arkavathy Layout Allottees’ Association president G Shivaprakash said, “According to my knowledge, around 73 of the 95 allottees who had approached the High Court seeking directions to the BDA to hand over the sites have received the letters from BDA.”
He said some of them have been informed by the civic body that the sites that were allotted to them originally would be handed over to them and, therefore, no fresh allotment would be made. “We are concerned as the BDA has not formed the layout and no development activity is going on. We really don’t know if we are going to get the sites that were allotted to us as we had received such letters earlier too,” he said. He claimed that BDA had not handed over possession of the sites to the allottees despite assurances. “We would have been more secure if the BDA had developed the layout.”
BDA Commissioner T Sham Bhatt said, “As the sites were allotted even before we could take possession of the land for forming the layout, we could not fulfill our commitment. We were unable to acquire the land due to legal complications and other reasons. Now we have managed to acquire the land and have given the agreed compensation to the land owners. Therefore, the allottees will get the sites but we might take some time to provide the infrastructure. We are handing over the sites in accordance with the instructions of the high court.”
According to sources, the BDA has prepared a working plan to form the layout. Around 3,600 sites in the original plan are not disturbed even after leaving vast pieces of land due to denotification and court orders. Therefore, the BDA has already sent letters to the allottees whose sites are not disturbed, to inform them about it. The BDA has initiated the process to make fresh allotments to the remaining 5,213 allottees.
BDA had allotted 8,813 sites in 2004 in Arkavathy Layout and also made sale deeds in favour of over 5,000 allottees before it stopped the formation of the layout due to legal hurdles and protests from land owners.