BDA loses its plot and public trust
Bangaloreans always had a fascination for BDA sites due to two reasons: They are cheap and they come with clear titles free from litigation. But those are now things of the past.
RTI activist BM Shivakumar, who has waged many a legal battle against the BDA, said “Gone are the days when people treated BDA sites as sacred. There’s no guarantee now that BDA sites come with clear titles and are litigation-free.”
67 allottees have gone to court after losing their sites when the agency denotified the land, a decade ago in Visvesvaraya Layout developed by BDA. Arkavathy Layout, that was first announced a decade ago, had to scale down its plan from 20,000 sites to 8,000 sites but most allottees are yet to gain possession of their plots.
“My experience with applying for a BDA site has been traumatic, to say the least. The layout is still not ready. I’m hearing stories about how the allottees have lost their plots as the land has been clandestinely denotified. I was allotted a site but it was taken back after the layout was scaled down. After going through hell for nearly 10 years, I’ve decided not to buy a BDA site because there’s no guarantee that the site allotted to you will have clear titles.” Said by BK Rajgopal, a resident of Hebbal and long-time aspirant of a site at Arkavathy Layout.
The most prominent problem from which BDA suffers is the rising cost of land. Acquisition issues have stymied most of its ambitious plans. BDA had proposed to develop five new layouts around the city and allot around 2 lakh sites in 2007. BDA could manage to acquire only about 5,000 acres of land so far whereas it issued notifications to acquire land in and around 40 villages.
BDA offered 40% of the developed land as compensation to the land owners resisting acquisition. But several villagers turned this down. The authority offered compensation ranging from Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1 crore per acre for those who wanted monetary relief.
Shivakumar added “This proved to be a big mistake as BDA could not afford to give sites at reasonable rates from then on and subsequently, other land owners challenged the BDA’s move in various courts”.
The BDA is now forced to shed its image and adopt a pricing mechanism in tune with market rates. Although it was formed to provide subsidized housing to those who cannot afford it.
Source: Times of India.
Acquisition issues, Arkavathy Layout, BDA Bangalore, BDA layouts, BDA Plot, BDA sites, BDA sites with clear titles, buy a BDA site, compensation to the land owners, Visvesvaraya Layout
