Race course fights to retain its turf

Race course fights to retain its turf
BY ASHWINI Y.S.
BENGALURU


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The 150-year-old Bangalore Turf Club, where the city’s glitterati congregate every weekend during racing season is fighting to retain its turf.

With Chief Minister B.S.

Yeddyurappa setting the deadline for BTC to move from its prestigious Race Course Road address to the outskirts when its lease ends on December 31, 2009, BTC board members are hoping to delay the inevitable.

BTC chairman Jayant Shah told Deccan Chronicle he would ask the CM to allot land for a new race course as the 292 acres allotted in 2003 in Yelahanka was on a tank bed.

The Lake Development Authority (LDA) had stopped BTC from moving there as a Supreme Court ruling bars commercial exploitation of tank beds.

Currently the race course sits on 66 acres, reduced from 84 acres by the city’s development. Shah said they needed another five years as it takes a minimum of 5-6 years to set up a race course. “The track takes that long to settle.” He plans to request for an extension of the lease. “We have no qualms about moving to Yelahanka, but not now. The race course cannot stop functioning while the new one is ready.” He said it was important to get land in and around Bengaluru, to be commercially viable. “Today, BTC is an international tourist attraction because of its strategic location. If too far away, it will defeat the purpose of a race course,” he said, adding BTC wants 120-150 acres.

BTC is also hoping for a five-year tax holiday. “We pay over RS 50 crore annually as entertainment and betting tax and rent. If waived for five years, we can build a course with recreational facilities, a hotel and shopping arcade at a cost of Rs 100 crore.”