Auctioning of land near BIA ruled out In the legislature

Auctioning of land near BIA ruled out In the legislature

Special Correspondent

409 out of 4,301 acres acquired for airport remains

325 acres to be allotted to Central, State undertakings

84 acres to be given on lease to private institutions

Bangalore: The State Government, which retained 409 acres of the 4,301 acres of land acquired for the Bengaluru International Airport at Devanahalli, will allot 325 acres to various Central and State government institutions for creating facilities and establishing their offices near the airport.

Giving this information to H.D. Revanna (Janata Dal-S) in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, Tourism and Infrastructure Development Minister G. Janardhan Reddy said the remaining 84 acres would be leased to private institutions at Rs. 3 an acre.
Allotments

Mr. Reddy said that out of the 325 acres, land would be allotted to the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, MSIL, the Tourism Department, the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation, the New Mangalore Port Trust, the Karnataka State Beverages Corporation, the Customs Department, the Karnataka State Industrial Investment and Development Corporation, information technology and health parks and others.

The Minister told Mr. Revanna that this land would not be auctioned, as desired by him.

N. Yogish Bhat (BJP) urged that the land should be leased and not auctioned.
‘Hike compensation’

Mr. Revanna urged the Government to give Rs. 42 lakh an acre as compensation to those whose land was acquired for the airport in 2001, as it had done during 2006-07.

Mr. Reddy rejected the demand and said the land was acquired at the market rate prevailing at that time. He said farmers and others, whose land and buildings were acquired, were given free sites and houses were built at Balepura village, near Devanahalli.

He said 492 farmers, whose land was acquired, had applied for employment at the airport, and 80 had been provided jobs. The remaining 412 applications were rejected because the applicants did not have suitable qualifications and experience.
Racecourse

Minister for Public Works C.M. Udasi informed Roshan Baig (Congress) that the racecourse on D. Devaraj Urs Road would be shifted to ease traffic congestion, but an alternative site was yet to be decided upon.

The Minister said that Freedom Park on the old Central Jail premises on Seshadri Road was nearing completion. It would be inaugurated in November.