Govt promises budget houses for poor

Govt promises budget houses for poor
Deccan Herald

The State government on Saturday offered a bouquet of promises to Bangalore – respite from the land mafia, well-connected integrated townships, budget houses for the poor and sops for ‘land losers’.

Addressing a gathering at ‘Bangalore Today and Tomorrow’, an interactive workshop that hosted heads of the City’s eight civic agencies, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy announced regularisation of houses built on unauthorised revenue layouts in and around Bangalore.

“The government has decided to regularise these houses, which belong mostly to the poor. A notification in this regard will be issued in a day or two,” he said. The Chief Minister said all houses on unauthorised revenue layouts, built on 20x30 feet, 30x40 feet, 40x60 feet and 50x80 feet dimensions, will be regularised.

“Most of these houses belong to the poor and they may have built the houses after much toil... Hence, we are not demolishing them,” he said. Houses on sites bigger than these dimensions will not be regularised.

Addressing the issue of encroachment of government land, Kumaraswamy said the government would not buckle under pressure while initiating action against land grabbers. “Bangalore should be a city for all and not just the property of the rich,” he said.

From land losers to active partners in Bangalore’s development – that is the shift in profile that Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) Commissioner Shankaralinge Gowda proposed for those losing land in the government’s land acquisition process.

“The ratio based on which the land loser can claim developed land in the layouts will be announced later. This will be a definite win-win situation for both the land loser and the BDA,” he said.

BDA’s upcoming layouts will focus on vertical growth with the authority going ahead with a proposal to distribute 50,000 sites with 20 per cent area reserved for apartments. Also in the BDA pipeline is a budget housing programme of two lakh houses for the economically weaker sections.

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has also lined up a housing plan for the poor. An integrated project for 5,000 houses across 31 slums will be taken up at a cost of Rs 200 crore. Work on the project will start in April, BBMP Commissioner K Jairaj said.

The houses will be built on blocks of four units each (ground plus three). Each unit will cost about Rs 3 lakh, he said. The redefining of Bangalore’s boundaries was the thrust area in Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) chairman Sudhir Krishna’s presentation.

With a population of 84 lakh spread over 8,022 sq km in its purview, the BMRDA will push further the integrated township formula — and the work-home-play concept — to enhance living standards in Greater Bangalore.

‘Land-gainers’

“In all these townships, land losers will actually become land-gainers because they will also get to partner in the development activities in the township... Connectivity will be another thrust area for BMRDA. Commuters can travel at 180 kmph on the proposed BMR ring roads,” Mr Krishna said.

THE PROMISES

* BDA: Two lakh budget houses for the poor

*BMRDA: Five integrated townships

*BBMP: 5,000-house project across 31 slums

*Bangalore Police: Surveillance cameras in crime-prone areas

*BMTC: Added thrust on grid system

*BWSSB: Cauvery IV

Stage II Phase to be accelerated