BDA Pursuing Shivaram Karanth Layout Plan

The civic body has issued preliminary notification to acquire 3,546 acres and 12 guntas between Doddballapur Road and Hesarghatta Road for the layout

Though the Chief Minister has announced that the Government would scrap its decision to acquire land for forming Dr Shivaram Karanth Layout, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is planning to initiate the process to obtain the government’s permission to issue a final notification for acquiring land for the layout.

An official said, “The State government has not issued any written order to the BDA to scrap the decision to form the layout. Moreover, courts have held in some cases that government agencies should complete projects within seven years of issuing preliminary notification to acquire land. If the land acquisition process is delayed further, we might have to face a lot of legal hurdles. Therefore, we are planning to issue a preliminary notification after obtaining the State government’s permission.”

In 2007, the State government had announced that it would form five layouts - Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout, Dr Shivaram Karanth Layout, S Nijalingappa Layout, D Devaraj Urs Layout and K C Reddy Layout - around the city to allot 1.76 lakh sites to those willing to buy them.

In pursuance of the government’s order, the BDA has issued preliminary notification to acquire 4,814 acres and 15 guntas for Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout in May 2008 and 3,546 acres and 12 guntas  between Doddballapur Road and Hesarghatta Road for Shivaram Karanth Layout in January 2009.

In due course, the BDA issued a final notification for Kempegowda Layout and held a series of discussions with the land owners to fix the compensation for the land and agreed to pay a compensation ranging from `80 lakh to `1 crore per acre of the land besides giving one incentive site. The BDA also offered to give 40 per cent of the developed land for those who did not want the monetary compensation. The BDA issued the final notification for acquiring the land for Kempegowda Layout towards the end of 2009.

As land owners had filed over 12,000 objections to the acquisition of land for the Karanth Layout and held series of protests, the BDA did not proceed with the acquisition process. In June 2013, the Chief Minister had told the protesting land owners that the government would scrap its decision to form Karanth Layout and abandon the land acquisition process.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com