BENGALURU: Demanding justice from the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), a senior citizen couple has blocked over 100 metres of the Major Arterial Road (MAR) passing through the sprawling Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout, constructed by the civic body.
The couple says their land was taken away for the formation of the layout. They have been running from pillar to post for the last two years. They said they will remove the fencing which they have have erected on both sides of the road only after the property given to them in exchange by the BDA is registered in their names.
Chikka Bettaya, 75, whose left leg and left hand are paralysed, and his wife Lakshmi Narasamma, 70, are residents of Komaghatta village in the Layout’s Fourth Block. Site owners who wanted to use this road as it connects all the nine blocks of the layout were shocked to see the main road being fenced with vertical poles with steel wire running between them so that none could pass through it. BDA has completed work on 5.7 km out of 10.76 km road that will connect Mysuru Road with Magadi Road and the Layout’s all nine blocks with 26,000 sites.
Bettaya, a retired KSRTC driver told TNIE, “We parted with 14 guntas of our land for the layout. Our ancestors were farmers and this land has been with our family for the last 60 years. We were given 4,150 sq feet of developed land in exchange. The compensation amount has been handed over to us but it is yet to be registered in our names.”
Filled with rage at the manner in which BDA officials have treated him, Bettaya said, “In my paralysed state, I have visited the BDA head office eight times in the last two years, spending Rs 800 by Ola or Uber for each trip. The files keep moving from one official to another, but the land never gets registered in our name.”
His wife adds, “The land we surrendered also had an outhouse with an electricity connection. We gave it all up for a public cause and today we are suffering so much.” The couple alleged that they have already paid Rs 1.5 lakh as bribe for the land to be registered in their names. “We cannot pay any more amount for it,” Bettaya charged. When the matter was brought to the notice of BDA officials, there was no response from them.