9 incipient illegal layouts razed

9 incipient illegal layouts razed
Deccan Herald

Personnel of the Nelamangala Planning Authority (NPA), Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), Revenue Department and Nelamangala police, swooped down on nine of the 29 layouts identified as unauthorised in the taluk and razed down whatever had come up in them including roads, culverts and power transmission poles.


Clamping down on the mushrooming of unplanned residential areas in and around the City, the government on Thursday began a massive drive to nip in the bud ongoing works in several layouts coming up in Dasanapura hobli of Nelamangala taluk.

Personnel of the Nelamangala Planning Authority (NPA), Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), Revenue Department and Nelamangala police, swooped down on nine of the 29 layouts identified as unauthorised in the taluk and razed down whatever had come up in them including roads, culverts and power transmission poles.

The nine layouts, spread over 75 acres, were being formed either in areas earmarked as agricultural lands or on agricultural lands that had not been converted into residential areas. The drive was conducted in broad daylight, even as promoters pleaded with the authorities to exclude infrastructure in their properties from being removed. When this reporter visited the layouts, culverts, road signs, and electricity poles were being pulled down by the authorities.


Thursday’s drive was conducted in one layout in Kittenahalli, three in Rauttanahalli, and six in Kadabagere villages.

The officials said that notices were served on the developers of the 29 layouts on September 14, 2006, and drive against the other layouts would be taken up in the coming days.

The NPA & BMRDA, in their joint notice, stated that the landholders, without taking permission under the Kanataka Urban & Rural Planning Act, 1961, Section 17, have formed layouts and are selling sites. The government will not provide infrastructure in these layouts, the notice said. “We can continue our drive provided we have sufficient police security. Today, some of the developers promised to remove the electricity poles and stone slabs and use the lands for agricultural purpose as per the rules,” an official said.

Why the drive?

The Tippagondanahalli Reservoir (TGR), situated about 34 km west of the City, is one of the major sources of drinking water for Bangalore and surrounding areas since 1930. The reservoir is fed by rivers Arkavati and Kumudavati. Spread over 1,453 square km, the catchment area of the reservoir extends from Dobbaspet on the NH-4 up to Nandi Hills, 60 km north of the City.

In recent years the inflow to TGR has been drying up and the quality of water has also deteriorated. In view of these facts, the BMRDA initiated a study by the Indian Space Research Organisation in association with the Indian Resources Information and Management Technologies Pvt Ltd (IN-RIMT) to ascertain the reasons for the reduced inflow of water to TGR.

The study revealed that unplanned development in the catchment area was one of the main reasons for the deteriorating quality of water and reduced inflow to the reservoir. Increased urbanisation had also altered the drainage pattern, it pointed out.

To curtail further pollution of both the streams, ISRO and IN-RIMT made recommendations under Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act 1986, to implement which the government decided to declare a schedule of zones in the catchment area in January 2003.

While the entire TGR catchment area was categorised as Zone 1, areas within 2 km of TGR boundary was put under Zone 2.

Zone 3 comprised areas within 1 km of the banks of Arkavati and Kumudavati, whiel Zone 4 was made of areas within 1 to 2 km of both the river banks.

The areas coming under Zones 2 and 4 are meant only for agricultural purposes, and development of any kind is prohibited in these areas.

Katha holders in Dasanapura hobli Area Zone

Chennamma and others, Rauttanahalli 7.15 acres 3

B Chandrappa, Rauttanahalli 4 acres 3

Puttarudraiah, Kittanahalli 4.10 acres 3

Muniraju, Kadabagere 1 acre 3

Siddalingappa, Kadabagere 2.30 acres 3

Doddarudrappa, Kadabagere 2.38 acres 3

G R Ramamurthy, Kadabagere 5.25 acres 3

S Bhageeratha, Kadabagere 3.02 acres 3

Ramakrishnaiah, Kadabagere 1.06 acres 3

Hucchegowda, Shivanapura 3.15 acres 4

Kare Arasappa, Shivanapura 1.33 acres 4

Venkatarasaiah,Shivanapura 2 acres 4

Gurulingappa, Shivanapura 1.03 acres 4

Basamma and Shivanna, Shivanapura 3.13 acres 4

Gurulingaiah, Shivanapura 1 acre 4

Munivenkatappa, Shivanapura 1.14 acres 1

Lakkanna, Shivanapura 1.03 acres 1

Gangappa, Shivanapura 25 guntas 1

Gangabylaiah, Shivanapura 25 guntas 1

Narayanappa, Shivanapura 2.17 acres 1

Boregowda, Lakkenahalli 37 guntas 1

Savitha Bijo, Hullegowdanahalli 19.47 acres 1

Nagappa, Kittanahalli 3 acres 4

K S Srinivasachari, Gattisiddanahalli 1.30 acres 4

Nataraj, Gattisiddanahalli 1.23 acres 4

H E Jayalakshmi, Gattisiddanahalli 38 guntas 4

B S Dakshinamurthy, Gattisiddanahalli 23 guntas 4

B N Shivaprasad, Gattisiddanahalli 1.16 acres 4

* The first nine are the names of those whose lands were included in the Thursday drive.

THE FACTS

One layout in Kittenahalli, three in Rauttanahalli and six in Kadabagere (75 acres)

Located about 16 kms from Bangalore

Violation: Layouts formed in agricultural lands

In line of fire: 20 more such layouts