BENGALURU: Even as the allotment of sites for the public in the fully complete Dr Shivarama Karanth Layout in North Bengaluru is still awaiting clearance from the High Court, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is grappling with mushrooming encroachments.
Illegal layouts or houses have been cropping up across the sprawling 3,837 acres it has acquired to form the layout as well as in the 2,096 acres it plans to acquire for the layout’s extension. The authority carries out demolitions when it gets to know about the illegal buildings, but after some time newer buildings get re-built at the same spot, said multiple sources.
Dr Karanth layout comprises 34,000 plots and 4,500 corner sites. It was formed in 2018 by acquiring land in 17 villages - Ganigarahalli, Kalathammanahalli, Somashettihalli, Kempapura, Lakshmipura, Ramagondanahalli, Harohalli, Avalahalli, Guniagrahara, Mediagrahara, Shyamarajapura, Veerasagara, Jarakabande Kaval, Doddabettahalli, Vaderahalli, Kempanahalli and Bylakere. The layout was fully readied under the supervision of the Justice A V Chandrashekar committee in September 2023. Over 200 cases are being heard by a specially constituted high court bench once every week.
A fortnight ago, the BDA demolished a two-storeyed half-built house in Shyamarajapura village. “We keep carrying out demolitions like this at frequent intervals, but after sometime, another construction emerges at the same location,” said an official. With the poor staff strength at its disposal, it is not possible to monitor the second biggest layout of BDA, he added.
The bigger issue was constructions coming up in the proposed extension, said another official. “Information has somehow been leaked to landowners about their properties proposed to be acquired for the extension. With the preliminary notification for the acquisition yet to be issued, owners are hurriedly putting up constructions there,” another source said. The aim behind these steps is to prevent them from being acquired by the BDA by citing that constructions have already been done, he added.
“A list was prepared internally and shared only with the departments inside the BDA. Only staff in the engineering and land acquisition departments and the outsourced agency hired to identify the lands were privy to the list containing the survey numbers of the lands to be acquired. It has somehow got leaked to the land owners. Some quick construction was done by them and electricity connection was hurriedly obtained,” he added.
Multiple sources conceded that the poor staff strength in the BDA makes it impossible to monitor the layout 24x7. “There is no solution to this menace as of now,” said an official.
216 ARKAVATHY LAYOUT ALLOTTEES GET ALTERNATIVE SITES IN KG LAYOUT
BENGALURU: As many as 216 allottees of the Arkavathy Layout,
who lost their sites over a decade ago due to denotification, were allotted alternative sites at Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout on Wednesday. An official release said the allottees were given their sites through the computer randomisation process which took place in the board room. Deputy Secretary-1 Umesh told TNIE, “We allotted 133 sites of 20x30 sqft, 40 sites of 30x40 sqft, 37 sites of 40x60 sqft and six sites measuring 50x80 sqft.” The sites were readied by the Alternative Site Allotment Committee. The only amount the allottees had to pay was the alternative site allotment fee. “This ranged from Rs 1,000 for sites of the smallest dimension to Rs 10,000 for largest.” BDA Chairman N A Haris, Commissioner N Jayaram and Engineer Member H R Shantharajanna were present.
