12,000 sites to be allotted in Arkavathi Layout

12,000 sites to be allotted in Arkavathi Layout

The Hindu

BDA may prune the number of sites to 14,000

# About 140 acres of land to be excluded from the plan
# About 748 acres of land under dispute
# A case filed in Supreme Court slated for July 18

BANGALORE: The number of sites in Arkavathi Layout may be cut to 14,000 from the original 20,000, said a senior government official.

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) would allot 12,000 sites for the layout by the second week of June, the official said. The Bangalore Development Authority has already allotted 1,280 sites.

Considering the shortfall in sites, senior most applicants would be awarded the sites for the layout.

Shortfall

The other short listed applicants who would not get a site because of the shortfall in land will be considered for the next layout, the official added.

The Bangalore Development Authority at a recent board meeting decided to drop from its plan 140 acres and 26 guntas of land that was under litigation. This was as per the High Court directions to the Bangalore Development Authority. At the meeting, the board decided to acquire 837 acres 28 guntas of notified land, which was under litigation but which had been cleared now. For the revenue site owners who had the sales deed registered before the preliminary notification, the Bangalore Development Authority decided to give a 30 x 40 site in BDA rates on an out-of-term allotment basis.

Of the 2,750 acres notified for the layout, nearly 748 acres are in dispute. There are 1,424 aggrieved landowners, a majority of whom are revenue site owners, seeking exclusion of their land from the acquisition process.

Apart from this, the official said that some more land might be excluded because the Bangalore Development Authority would not be able to form sites in the space. "Some of the lands may be surrounded by lands in litigation. The area available to the Bangalore Development Authority may be too small for a site," the official said.

A decision on the land available and its extent would be taken at the next meeting of the Bangalore Development Authority board of directors.

No major changes

The Government official added that there would not be any major change in the Arkvathi Layout plan. Civil works for most of the first phase of the layout had been completed at a cost of Rs. 26 crore. The BDA lost material estimated at Rs. 10 crore in the looting that followed immediately after the High Court questioned the BDA's acquisition policy and before the agency got a stay order.

Another hurdle for the Bangalore Development Authority was the case against the layout which was pending before the Supreme Court. The case will come up for hearing on July 18. "No one knows which way the Supreme Court will decide the case," the government official said.

2.5 lakh applications

Over 2.5 lakh people applied for the 20,000 sites and the Bangalore Development Authority had collected Rs. 930 crore as initial deposit money from applicants.

The Bangalore Development Authority first returned the initial deposit to unsuccessful applicants and as the project was getting delayed returned the money to short-listed applicants as well.