BENGALURU: A lot of misinformation is being spread among farmer WhatsApp groups regarding the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) project, said Bengaluru Business Corridor Chairman LK Atheeq.
In a detailed clarification, Atheeq said an image circulating online claims that 16% of the land being acquired for the PRR is being retained by the BDA. “Firstly, it is not wrong for the BDA to retain some land to monetise in future and repay the HUDCO loan, as long as it gets the master plan amended suitably. But, the fact is, in this project, BDA is not retaining any real estate out of the current acquisitions,” he said.
Calling the image “fake”, Atheeq said the government intends to strongly fight such misinformation. He explained that the right of way (RoW) for the highway is 65 metres, and the remaining 35 metres will be used for commercial or mixed land use. This 35-metre corridor — except for the land required for town-planning needs like parks and civic amenity (CA) sites — will be used entirely as compensation sites for the farmers, and no real estate will be retained by the BDA.
Atheeq added that 1,810 acres of land are being acquired for the road with a 100-metre RoW. “When we use 65 metres for the road, it is not as if we will save 35% of land along the entire 73-km stretch. There are interchanges and entry/exits where the entire 100 metres RoW will be used,” he said. After accounting for interchanges, about 400 acres — or 22% of 1,810 acres — will remain, which will be entirely reserved for compensating farmers.
He further noted that an additional 600 acres have been notified for interchanges and cloverleaf junctions, taking the total to 2,410 acres. “Of this, 400 acres (16.6%) will be retained for compensation sites for farmers. Nothing is being retained by BDA,” Atheeq clarified.
