500 acres of government land to be reauctioned

500 acres of government land to be reauctioned

Sharath S. Srivatsa

# Government confirms bids for only 341 acres of land
# Poor response for lands in Tavarekere and Dasanapura

BANGALORE: Over 500 acres of government land, which had been recovered from encroachers in Bangalore Urban district and later auctioned, would come under the hammer again following non-confirmation of these auctions by the Government.

Bangalore Urban Deputy Commissioner M.A. Sadiq told The Hindu that of over 900 acres of government land auctioned so far, the State Government had confirmed sale of only 341 acres.

"As a thumb rule, we expect land to fetch 150 per cent of more than the guidance value fixed by the Government and those bids that have not fetched the desired price will be re-auctioned," he said.

Although fresh dates had not been fixed so far, Mr. Sadiq said they would schedule the auctions shortly.

The Prevention of Unauthorised Construction Cell was planning to auction government lands in Bangalore Urban district every week with at least three days of auction.

An official said the State Government had 90 days to either confirm or reject the auction and 25 per cent of the value of the land paid to the Government by successful bidders would be returned to them without interest if the Government rejected the bids.

According to officials, the Government had confirmed only 105 out of over 550 acres of government land that had been auctioned in April 2007 as it satisfied the norms placed by the Government.

The bids for May had been forwarded to the Government.

Poor response

It is learnt that auction had received poor response for blocks of land in areas such as Tavarekere and Dasanapura while the areas near K.R. Puram in Bangalore East taluk had received tremendous response from bidders.

Officials said: "Tavarekere and Dasanapura are not much developed compared to those areas around K.R. Puram."