Arkavathy may get grounded in legal waters

BDA better keep off land acquisition for good
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The Arkavathy seems to have run into rough weather. The Bangalore Development Authority’s (BDA) ambitious housing layout project off Bellary Road-Outer Ring Road has not progressed, leaving the date of allotment of sites uncertain.

The disappointment among the applicants is understandable as they were waiting for the Sankranti Gift from Chief Minister Dharam Singh as promised.

It was in February 2004 that the previous S M Krishna Government announced the Arkavathy residential layout project at a cost of Rs.933 crore. It was proposed to allot 20,000 sites, and the project involved acquisition of 2750 acres.

The BDA had stopped accepting applications during the brief period of elections owing to the model code of conduct but resumed the exercise after the polls.

The new Congress-JD (S) coalition regime, however, suspended the tender process on grounds of alleged irregularities in the award of contracts for the civil works. This was in August 2004.

After the allegations were probed by the new Commissioner of BDA, the Government gave the green signal in September 2004. Last month, Chief Minister Dharam Singh while setting the project into motion, announced that the site allotment process would commence on January 15, 2005.

Even as the people were looking forward to the Sankranti gift, came the news that the allotment had been postponed on account of litigation by landowners.

Apparently, the postponement is based on the legal advice not to allot sites till all the pending cases are cleared by courts. It is also believed that there is no clear decision on the removal of encroachments on lands notified for acquisition.

What are the implications of the decision to defer the allotment of sites?

First: the applicants’ wait will be indefinite. Knowing the legal delay, it is anybody’s guess as to how long it would take for the disposal of all the cases by the courts.

Second: the deposit of Rs.920 crore collected from applicants will lie locked in BDA’s coffers.

Except the 20,000 who will be the beneficiaries, the remaining 2.15 lakh applicants will have to look forward to the refund of their deposit. They would also suffer loss of interest for the period their money continues to remain with the BDA.

Third: longer the delay, the more difficult it will be to evict the encroachers from the notified lands.

Proposals for de-notification, if any, can further complicate the process. A basic question that arises from this case relates to the Land Use policy of the BDA. In the context of Bangalore’s uncontrolled growth, should BDA continue to acquire large extents of land in the periphery and contribute to the expanding urban sprawl?

It is time the BDA reviewed its policy of allotting individual plots, and instead, consider ways of promoting group housing schemes on the lines of other large metros. Land acquisition must be minimised and land utilisation optimised.

After fulfilling the commitment already made, the BDA would be well advised to give up its grandiose plans of developing bigger layouts, and better focus its attention on more vital issues of City planning and infrastructure development.