EASTWARD HO!

EASTWARD HO!
Circa 1996. Iblur, Bellandur and Mahadevapura were mere blips on the Bangalore radar. Three years later, fast-paced realty action transformed small hamlets, vast farm tracts, coconut and mango groves into concrete structures overnight. The out-of-bounds areas now have the last-mile connectivity. S Kushala and Chandrashekar G trace the changing skyline of Bangalore East
TIMES NEWS NETWORK


On the other side of Bangalore Airport is Bellandur, a nondescript hamlet that was refulgent with greenery and coconut groves. From their single-storey houses, people could distinctly see aircraft majestically taking off and touching down. Agriculture was the mainstay of Bellandur and surrounding villages, located about 15 km from Cantonment.
Today, the tall coconut trees have submitted themselves to the march of the realty market, making way for multiplexes, skyscrapers and IT establishments. There’s the death of greenery, but farmers aren’t mourning; instead, they’re counting their wealth by the million with toothy smiles. The agent of change — if one were to hazard a guess — is the Outer Ring Road that cuts through swathes of outback areas such as Bellandur and the latter’s inclusion in the 42-km IT corridor.
Number-crunching is becoming tougher by the day. An acre of land that was sold for Rs 60,000 in the late 1990s now rakes in over Rs 6 crore. Similarly, other Bangalore East areas such as Ambalipura, Haraluru, Kaikondanahalli, Devarabeesanahalli, Kaadubeesanahalli, Kariyammana Agrahara, Marathhalli, Munnenakolalu, Doddanekundi and B Narayanapura are benefiting from the IT revolution and their proximity to Electronic City. Eastern Bangalore essentially comprises Whitefield, Airport Road and Electronic City.
The land prices in areas surrounding the 62-km Outer Ring Road have hit the roof, thanks to the opening up of communication network via road. When the ring road was under construction, there was a slump in land prices in the adjacent areas too — Bellandur, Iblur, Hebbal, Peenya, Banashankari, Bannerghatta Road, BTM Layout, Varthur, OMBR Layout, Doddanekundi, Laggere, Nandini Layout, KR Puram, HSR Layout, Sarjapur Road, Marathahalli, Mahadevapura and Banaswadi. The rates shot up after the project was commissioned. Land transaction was brisk in Whitefield-Varthur areas after the BDA commissioned the flyover connecting the Whitefield-Varthur Road on the ring road.
Former Bellandur gram panchayat member K Jagannath says: “The IT boom has no doubt brought in loads of money for the farmers. They sold off land when the demand touched a peak. Instead of handing over the land to the KIADB for IT corridor, the farmers sold lands directly to the companies that yielded returns 10 times higher the guidance value.’’
When the city central areas could not meet the accommodation needs, the peripheral areas became the toast of house-hunters. The past five years have seen massive residential constructions from Electronic City to Whitefield. The BDA records show a staggering number — construction of over 4,000 multistorey residential apartments.
Such a frenzied — and often skewed — development has a flip side in terms of land-use violations and haphazard growth. Four- and fivestorey buildings stand monstrously close to each other on roads as narrow as 20 ft in width. New layouts have illegally come up on lake peripheries and tanks. The building regularization scheme has come as a boon for these residents, who were eagerly waiting to get a clean chit for their properties.
“The CMCs had powers to sanction buildings up to three floors, but did not check the vertical growth. Over 60% buildings here don’t have sanctions beyond four floors and lack clear titles. Yet, the buyers overlooked these and went ahead with buying properties,’’ explain BDA officials.
Realty industry projects more action in Bangalore East in the next 10 years. Its reach is expected to breach the 10,000-acre mark. The BDA’s recent Masterplan, too, unlocked new vast areas from Varthur Road to Sarjapura Road to Hosur Road in Bangalore East: total area for residential purposes is 23.08 sqkm (about 5,700 acres), which would yield 49,248 new sites.
Well, the story has just begun.
WHAT’S IN International Tech Park, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, EPIP, industrial zones, cargo main base, international schools, medical and engineering colleges, residential complexes. REALTY CHECK From Rs 2,000 per sqft to Rs 6,000 per sqft
WHAT’S GOOD Proximity to Electronic City, Sarjapur Road and Whitefield Good arterial road network, reduction of trip length Less pollution due to their distance from the city centre Good BMTC bus connectivity
WHAT’S BAD Haphazard development; over 60% building violations, lack of building plans and land conversions Rampant encroachment on water bodies Lack of drainage and drinking water supply Interior areas have no roads to speak of ROAD LINKS ALL AROUND
Outer Ring Road, cable-stayed bridge and grade separators 11-km road from K R Puram railway station flyover to Hope Farm via Hoody Circle 38-km stretch of Outer Ring Road (ORR) cuts through Mahadevapura, Sarjapur Road, Agara Layout and Hoody, merges with Hosur Road ORR’s northern part connects K R Puram via Nagavara Road, Hennur Road and Horamavu Road A portion of road overbridge at Marathalli completed and the other portion will be ready by February Whitefield will get connected from all the directions once BDA finalises the alignment of the Peripheral Ring Road