BBMP misses chance to rake in CRORES

BBMP misses chance to rake in CRORES
By Shiva Kumar N D and R Jayaprakash | TNN


Pallavi theatre pays a rent of Rs 20 per month, one person pays Rs 2 as rent for his Shivaji Road residence, a former corporator pays Rs 4.16 as rent for commercial space of 1,000 sq ft on H Siddaiah Road... The list goes on. The magnanimous owner of all these properties is the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagare Palike (BBMP). If these properties are leased out at current rental values, it would rake in hundreds of crores for the BBMP.
With skyrocketing land rates, rentals have also increased by leaps and bounds in the last one decade. But BBMP has’t revised the rates. It has leased out its 412 properties at a throwaway price for various purposes to hundreds of people. In many cases, the lease period is 99 years. The wide spectra of beneficiaries include sports, cultural, literary and religious
organisations, political parties, government offices, educational institutions, theatres, petrol bunks and associations representing various caste, religion and sub-castes.
While leasing out its properties, the BBMP has not followed laid-down procedure and hence the lease amount has remained the same over the years. Even after the expiry of the lease period, the BBMP has not made any serious efforts to get back its property. Of the 412 leased properties, the lease period of as many as 189 properties has expired. For instance, it leased out 1,882 sq ft of area to Sundaram Motors on Kasturba Road in 1985 for three years. Though the lease expired in 1988, it is yet to recover the property. It happens to be the only authorised showroom for selling Mercedes vehicles.
In the 2006 budget, the BBMP proposed to take up asset audit to identify and recover properties for which the lease period has lapsed. Many months ago, during a monthly council meeting, commissioner K Jairaj had assured that he would streamline the system, hike the rent and recover properties whose lease period had lapsed. None of these has happened so far.