DREAMS GROUNDED

DREAMS GROUNDED

MK Madhusoodan. Bangalore



Another dream built around the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) is crashing. Investors who pumped in lakhs of rupees to buy housing plots in the vicinity of the BIA in Devanahalli hoping to encash the boom, are in for a shock.
Addressing a DCs' meeting in the city on Friday last, chief minister BS Yeddyurappa announced that the state government is reconsidering sanction granted to conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural purposes.
If the Yeddyurappa government indeed reconsiders the conversion sanction, the result could be that all lands in the vicinity of the BIA will remain solely agricultural. Neither can houses be built on these lands nor can they be exploited for any other real estate purposes.
According to official estimates, at least 90% of the Devanahalli lands are agricultural. Besides real estate sharks having invested huge sums of money on these lands, scores of housing societies have carved up small residential plots in the area and sold them to the public.
The government had, in fact, even floated a local area planning authority, the Bengaluru International Airport Planning Authority (BIAPA), to streamline development.
However, it is now being argued in the official circles that the government might face problems in future on various fronts, especially infrastructure facilities and civic amenities, if large-scale conversion of agricultural lands is allowed.
"There are reports from geophysicists that the groundwater level has depleted considerably in the area and borewells have to be dug up to more than 900 feet deep to strike water. The selection of Devanahalli for locating BIA itself was wrong for this reason alone. We have only provided water supply to the BIA and an adjoining industrial estate. The demand for drinking water from a public utility can just not be met if the newly formed layouts and housing colonies of the area are developed," a senior official in the revenue department said, explaining the context of Yeddyurappa's statement.
"The government will not be able provide any more civic amenities like drains and sewerage treatment plants for the new residential enclaves coming up under BIAPA," he said, adding:"We have strict provisions in revenue laws that agricultural lands cannot be passed on to non-agriculturists whose income from other than agriculture sources is Rs two lakh and more."
The official said that reasons to curtail development of Devanahalli lands are manifold.
"There are no proper revenue records maintained at the taluk office on several survey numbers. Sixty per cent of the lands are grants to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. This can only complicate conversion sanctions," he added.