Govt to sell land near Devanahalli airport

Govt to sell land near Devanahalli airport
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: In a major policy decision, probably the first of its kind, JD(S)-BJP Government on Thursday decided to put up 408 acres of land near the Bangalore International Airport for public “auction” to raise resources.

Medical Education Minister V S Acharya told reporters after a Cabinet meeting here that the Government has decided to auction the land in 25 to 50 acres block each and plan to earn Rs 2,000 crore revenue from it.

The land was part of the 2,000 acres land earlier acquired for the Rs 1,400-crore airport project. But when the JD(S)-Congress coalition Government came to power in 2004, the Government decided to retain 408 acres of land for setting up public utility services like bus bays and railway a station.

The Government also promised to the Bangalore International Airport Authority Ltd (BAIL) to transfer the surplus land at a later stage.

Subsequently, BAIL also requested the Government to hand over the lands to its further expansion of the airport. But the sudden decision of the Government selling these lands though auction was raised many doubts The Minister evaded a question on the reason for selling the lands particularly in the Devanahalli International airport zone, which would come under high security.

He said, “We will set out guidelines for the activities that could be taken up on these lands by the buyers.” But he refused to answer further queries in this regard.