BENGALURU: There is a ray of hope now for people waiting for a government site for over 15 years. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday announced the formation of the Arkavathy extension layout.
The State Government has already approved the preliminary notification drafted by the Bangalore Development Authority. The BDA Commissioner had made a request to the government on December 30, 2020 after it had decided to create the extension layout on 450.15 acres of land on August 28, 2020.
BDA Commissioner Dr H R Mahadev told TNSE that the extension layout is being formed as many people have lost their sites and land under the denotification and re-do cases. According to the preliminary assessment, 5,000 sites need to be allotted, and land to create 1,500 sites has been identified in the existing Arkavathy layout, while the remaining will be in the extension layout.
Mahadev said since government has approved the preliminary notification, it will soon be made public after which citizens’ opinion will be invited before drafting the final notification. The aim is to start the exercise in two months. However, a senior urban development department official was sceptical. “The layout is jinxed. The way it was carved, formed and handled by officials is a mess. Citizens who paid for the sites and farmers who lost their land are still suffering,” said the official.
The government has planned to give sites to allottees who lost their sites, farmers who were not compensated and to senior allottees who have applied for a BDA site over 20 years ago. To ensure that the new layout does not face the same fate as Arkavathy, BDA has started talking to farmers and convincing them of government’s new plan.
As per the approved notification, a copy of which is with TNSE, the extension layout will come up in Sampigehalli, Kattigenahalli, Kogilu, Srinivasapura, Byapanahalli, Bellahalli, Mittiganahalli and Sathnur villages. In 2014, following court orders, of the 1,766.07 acres of the layout, 336.16 acres were not given to the allottees. The layout will be developed with BDA funds, without taking loans from financial institutions.