Marked by BBMP and protesting

Marked by BBMP and protesting


Faiza HaneefFirst Published : 08 Sep 2009 05:17:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 08 Sep 2009 08:28:48 AM IST
BANGALORE: Red marks that have appeared on compound walls of house in JP Nagar, BTM Layout and Ilyasnagar is sending shock waves here. The markings are sign that the BBMP could be moving ahead with its plan of road-widening here. And, resident associations say that if it does go ahead with its road widening project at the 14.3-km stretch connecting the Silk Board Junction to Nayandanahalli, the approximate loss of the property would be worth Rs 85,000 crore.
The 7.35-mt markings on their compound walls is bringing back nightmares of property loss. However, this time the number of properties that will be covered runs into hundreds.
The last time they had seen such markings by the Palike was at the time of construction of an underpass on JP Nagar’s 15th Cross Ring Road which is as yet incomplete.
“When we were informed that we would lose 5-7 ft of our proeprty we protested and the Palike was forced to go back on its decision.
But the fear of losing property has come back and we will not let it happen,” says Dr D B Meundi, president of a J P Nagar citizen’s association. Several commercial establishments towards Ilyas nagar and Chamrajpet too come in the way of the road-widening.
Underpass still under process
“The underpass work that started about a year ago is still incomplete and there is no access to the main road for us and now the road widening project is adding to the existing chaos. This is like adding to injury to insult,” says Meundi. “There is no need to widen this road and it would be waste of resources. It is a medium density road and already 100-ftwide, including the footpath area. So why widen it futher?” asks another resident.
Give alternatives
The Transfer of Develop Right (TDR) option provided as an alternative will be of no use because there have been instances of people vacating their houses and moving to different areas because of the delayed work of the underpass.
“And now if we accept the TDR, property owners will incur major losses as we have to lose a huge portion of land and therefore we are protesting the road-widening plan.
There was a meeting where all the resident associations and traders had come together and discussed various alternatives. We have also submitted a memorandum to the BBMP authorities,” informed Meundi.
There has been no publicity about this move of the BBMP. The residents were not informed and no individual notices were served about this project. The residents feel that BBMP should explore the possibilty of alternative measures.
BBMP sources, however, say that the land acquisition notice was given through the print media. Now that the residents are protesting, the matter would be forwarded to the higher authorities and discussed, they said.