Wrung by Ring Road widening

Wrung by Ring Road widening

Over 2,000 properties will go under the pickaxe to make room for a wider Outer Ring Road in JP Nagar

Sunitha Rao R. Bangalore



In 2005, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) had proposed a plan to widen the 14.5-km stretch of the Outer Ring Road from the Central Silk Board to Nayandanahalli on Mysore Road, to ease the traffic flow. Four years on, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is now gearing up to implement the plan.
But property-owners along the road are a worried lot. Many of them are going to lose their property owing to the development work.
"If the road widening project is implemented, I will lose a major portion of my building," said Kaleem Ulla Sharif, an entrepreneur, whose business complex will be demolished if the road widening takes place.
He went on to add, "After the demolition for the widening work is done, what I will be left with is just the building standing on 10 feet deep plot. I have been paying tax for the same building but because of this, I will lose a major portion of the property. I can only start a paan shop on the remaining land."
Sharif's is just one among the more than 2,000 properties that will face the pickaxe for the project.
Opposing the BBMP move, property-owners and tenants on this stretch on Monday organised a 'Janaspandana' to discuss the issue.
The BBMP had recently issued a notification to the property-owners and lease holders whose lands would be required for the road widening project asking them to apply for Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) to the commissioner.
This TDR approval will allow property owners losing part of their lands for government projects to construct the building vertically, in proportion to the area of land being given up.
However, the property owners are not satisfied with the alternative being given to them.
"My building already has three floors. How much more can I construct on a piece of land that will not be more than 10 feet deep?" rued Sharif.
The Janaspandana went on for more than two-and-a-half hours where all the possible alternatives and actions were discussed.
However, the residents of the area confessed that they didn't have much hope of arriving at a plausible solution,
When contacted, BBMP chief engineer (major roads) TN Chikkarayappa said, "The Bangalore Development Authority has the authority over planning. The BBMP, on the other hand, implements the plans chalked out by the BDA."
He said the Palike would do its best to consider the issues of the citizens concerned.
"We have listened to the woes of the people who will lose their property in the road widening project. I will report the discussion with them to the BBMP commissioner and also to the state government. They will look into the issue,"