BDA left them high & dry

BDA left them high & dry

Banashankari VI stage, visweshwaraya layouts did not have mandatory nod

Bosky Khanna. Bangalore



The Sir M Visweshwaraya and Banashankari 6th stage layouts are the havens of real estate agents. But hardly anyone lives there. Reason? These layouts that were formed earlier this decade do not sport even the basic civic facilities, for they did not have a Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) approval, though thousands were allotted plots here.
However, after years of wait, the authority finally approved the two layouts and sent a note to the state government in this regard. Sources in the BDA said that the two layouts were neither planned properly, nor were they approved by the board when they were being formed. Also, they did not have any cabinet notes. Due to this, the layouts lacked in ground water level reservoirs and sewerage treatment plants as the board's town planning department had no data on these layouts.
As per norms, all layouts are required to be first approved by the BDA, and later cleared by the government, following which facilities are provided and sites are allotted. But this procedure was skipped during the formation of these two layouts. After nearly an eight-year wait, a letter was written to the government to complete the formalities and give them the much-needed legal umbrella.
The Sir M Visweshwaraya layout was formed in 2003 and 4,484 sites were allotted, while the Banashankari 6th stage layout came up in 2002 with 5,800 sites. However, lack of water, drains and roads found few residents here, while layouts that came up in the city much later were being populated quickly.
Rajeshwari KG, a resident of Visweshwaraya layout, said that inadequate supply of drinking water even after seven years of purchasing the site forced residents to dig borewells. However, even these were going dry. Also, there was no proper drainage or garbage collection system.
It was the same story at Banashankari 6th stage too. Neha Rao, a resident, said that with no proper garbage collection facility, people often dumped garbage across the layout making it a conducive breeding ground for dangerous diseases