BMP land for Rs 23 per sq ft on Magarath Road!

BMP land for Rs 23 per sq ft on Magarath Road!
Deccan Herald

Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Commissioner K Jairaj on Thursday said he would order a management audit by a private firm into the BMP’s joint venture with Garuda Mall promoters - Maverick Holdings.

He told this to reporters following a furore in the BMP council over Mayor Mumtaz Begum’s alleged complicity in an unauthorised construction on a BMP’s site (measuring 3,456 sq ft) adjacent to Garuda Mall.

The Commissioner said the unauthorised construction is seen to be “in good faith” as the party involved was the Garuda Mall promoters themselves. The construction is actually a water purification plant, he said.

He noted that in April 2005, the BMP’s project management group (PMG) recommended that about 3,456 sq ft of leftover land adjacent to Garuda Mall may be handed over to the Mall promoters and the proposal was sent to the government directly. The government, however, sent it back to be discussed in the BMP council.

Explaining the basis of PMG’s recommendation, the Commissioner noted that Garuda Mall was a joint venture project of the BMP; secondly, the leftover 3,456 sq ft area accounted for just two per cent of the total area in the project limits. The PMG had, therefore, thought it best handed over to the same promoters at the rate of Rs 23 per sq ft, he said. The PMG comprises BMP chief engineers and other officers, including the head of finance.

Mr Topagi, BMP Joint Director, Town Planning said the promoters should have applied for a modified plan of the project or building after the PMG made its recommendations, but they did not do so. To that extent the construction is a violation, he said.

A representative of Maverick Holdings said a sewerage treatment plant was being constructed “as per Pollution Control Board norms for a project of our size”.