BDA largesse for the babus

BDA largesse for the babus
Deccan Herald

Bowing to the IAS, IPS and IFS officers’ lobby, the BDA is planning to allot 20 acres of land to these babus at the Arkavathi Layout.

Bowing to the IAS, IPS and IFS officers’ lobby, the BDA is planning to allot 20 acres of land to these babus at the Arkavathi Layout.

Though the layout covers 16 villages in Bangalore East and North taluks, these officers want the land near Jakkur aerodrome (survey numbers 70 to 73 and 90 to 94), off Bangalore-Yelahanka road. This is because it is a good location and the land prices are high.

The BDA had earmarked this area for distributing sites to those who had given their lands for layout formation. Hence, it offered a piece of land at Kothanur (survey number 87 to 97) village in JP Nagar to these officers’ association — Metropolitan Housing Cooperative Society. But they were unwilling to oblige and insisted on the land at Jakkur, sources said.

Succumbing to pressure, the BDA is planning to allot the land to them after inspection on Wednesday or Thursday.

However, the BDA’s move has upset its employees. The authority has refused a request from its employees association to allot land to them. The request is pending for the last four years. The employees association had demanded land during the formation of Visveswaraiah layout.

Meanwhile, BDA Commissioner M N Vidyashankar said he was not aware of these plans. Other BDA officials maintain that the process of allotment is going on expeditiously.

In 2003, the State government had ordered allotment of land to these officers’ association, but it had not materialised as the layout formation got delayed due to legal wrangles. The work on the layout resumed only recently after the High Court ruled in favour of the Arkavathi project.