BENGALURU: A massive land audit exercise taken up by the Bangalore Development Authority for over two years to identify available land across its 63 layouts has revealed that 11,580 acres, worth nearly Rs 1,000 crore, are yet to be put to any use due to various reasons.Some of the land is encroached, either fully or partially, while other pieces are stuck in litigation. There are also empty plots, said a senior BDA official.“In many cases, the court has ruled in favour of BDA, but the authority has not followed up or taken possession of land,” he added.
BDA Chairman and Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath told The New Indian Express that immediate steps are being taken to gain custody of 2,000 acres out of 11,000-plus acres of land. “We have asked each of our four divisions to first identify at least 20 acres of land in their respective areas and hand them over to us by July 5. We plan to restart the demolition and acquisition process from July 8,” he said.The Bangalore Development Authority had temporarily stopped its demolition drive after a court order halted it in the light of the pandemic.
“The crucial portions of the report, prepared by EI Technologies at a cost of Rs 10 crore, are almost complete and the final report will be handed over to us in a fortnight,” he added.A senior BDA official said that a rough estimate put the worth of 11,580 acres of land at Rs 995.88 crore.
Legal team to get strong
The legal section of BDA will be upgraded shortly by hiring former High Court judges and ten young lawyers. “We will go to law colleges to carry out campus recruitment and will pay them well too,” Vishwanath said.
Another official said the report submitted is exhaustive and has involved a lot of effort. “Using satellite imagery, it provides the exact extent of the encroached portion in each plot. It has listed each survey number and offered comprehensive details on every aspect pertaining to it,” he added.The report has made an assessment of 37,327 acres of land belonging to Bangalore Development Authority. It has stated that 3,000 acres are karab (government) land, while compensation is still pending for 20,692 acres of land.
NO MAINTENANCE CHARGES FOR KG LAYOUT
Bengaluru: The Bangalore Development Authority on Tuesday decided to roll back the maintenance charges it had levied on Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout alone, informed BDA Chairman S R Vishwanath on Tuesday. The fee ranging between Rs 100 and Rs 300 per month had been imposed on five new layouts for the ongoing financial year. The bill for it had been levied along with the property tax bill this year and had caused much resentment among KG Layout allottees who cited the incomplete infrastructure there. The other newly-formed layouts of Arkavathy, Sir M Visvesvaraiah, Banashankari
6th Stage and Anjanapura will be charged the maintenance fee, an official said.
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