Land-grabbers eye prime plot in Shankarapuram

Land-grabbers eye prime plot in Shankarapuram
The TImes of India

Bangalore: A prime land in Shankarapuram, Basavanagudi, which was acquired by the erstwhile Mysore government in 1898 to form a layout is being targeted by the landgrabbers. Ironically, the landlords who had sold the land to the government want to get hold of the property as the land is a gold mine now.
The soft target is Mariguru Swami Kudure Samadhi Gaddige Mutt, a temple which has
been in the area since 1869 on four guntas of land. The erstwhile Mysore government and the Bangalore city municipality have it in their records that this four guntas of land belongs to the temple.
The BMP which is inquiring into the issue is in a fix: it cannot identify the boundary of the land due to the development and is planning to super-impose the earlier village map with the local area map to take measurements.
The mutt land is a part of the 1.38 acres in Karanji Beesanahalli village which was acquired by the former Mysore government to form the Basavangudi extension.
A board, a new extension committee between Basavangudi and Chamarajpet, was created to develop Shankarpuram in 1906. Meanwhile, the original landlords who sold the land to Mysore government began fabricating documents for the same property and sold the acquired land all over again. However, the buyers were suitably compensated by the government for the loss caused due to the landlords.
So much so, land registrations have happened on Re 1 stamp paper in the early 90s!
Now, it is the temple land — about 5,000 sqft — which is being targeted. And the property, which is adjacent to the National College flyover ramp, costs anywhere between Rs 6,000 and Rs 7,000 per sqft currently.
Says Tejas who is incharge of the temple: “I have brought the issue to the notice of the government and submitted documents to the authorities concerned, fighting to protect the land. But so far, there has been no concrete action.’’