BENGALURU: It was a red letter day on August 4 this year for 307 allottees of BDA’s Arkavathy Layout whose name figured in the list for alternative sites in Arkavathy as well as Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout after a 13-year-long wait. Three months down the line, none of them have received their allotment letter yet, making the wait all the more painful.
The allottees lost their sites due to denotification orders issued by the State Government in 2008-2009. Since then, it has been an uphill battle for them with countless visits to the BDA office seeking justice. Finally, based on seniority, the BDA had announced three months ago the handover of alternative sites.
M Nagaraju, president of the Arkavathy Allottees’ Forum confirmed to TNIE that the 307 allottees are still awaiting their allotment letters. “They are part of the nearly 3,500 site allottees who lost their sites due to a series of denotification orders and are suffering hugely,” he said.
Among those awaiting the letter for his 30x40 ft site is 89-year-old Kale Gowda M, a retired government employee. “At least 16 of those in the list are senior citizens and we have waited so long for our site. It should be given to us at the earliest. It is proving very tough to keep waiting even after we are given our survey numbers on August 4,” he said.
V Ananda, Secretary, BDA, assured TNIE that the allottees will be given their allotment letters within two weeks. “We wanted to carry out many cross-checks to ensure none of the sites are caught in any litigation. We are in the process of completing it. We will be handing over the allotment letter in a week or two,” he told TNIE.
The layout was planned in 2003-2004 and a total of 8,813 sites were allotted by BDA across 2,740 acres in 16 villages in Bengaluru East and Yelahanka. However, a series of denotification orders were issued over the years, making the whole allotment a mess.