Palace Grounds walls to make way for road

Palace Grounds walls to make way for road
Sunitha Rao R | TNN

Bangalore: The walls of the historical Palace Grounds will make way for road-widening on the busy Bellary Road. As a major component of the 600 km road-widening project in the city, the walls will have to be knocked off.
According to BBMP commissioner Bharat Lal Meena, BBMP has already taken up
the project for road widening on Bellary Road with the consent of Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar whose palace property is under litigation.
BBMP sources told TOI that Wadiyar’s family has agreed to give away the land on certain conditions. These include authority over 150 advertising hoardings over the wall that encompasses the Palace and construct a wall of 14 ft. “We will knock off the existing wall (10 ft height) only after the construction of the new wall, that will be built about 25 metres behind the existing wall. Due to security reasons the existing wall will be retained till the completion of the new wall construction,” senior BBMP officials said.
However the palace land is under dispute — the Supreme Court is yet to give its final verdict on the ownership of the land. “If the land belongs to the government, then BBMP need not have to award TDR. If Wadiyar’s family is declared the owner of the land, we will have to award TDR to the family,” BBMP officials said.
COSTLY LAND: The 16-acre land for road-widening acquired by the BBMP is worth Rs 640 crore as each acre of the Palace land costs Rs 40
crore as per the current market value.
Similar efforts were made by BBMP during 2007 to convince Wadiyar family to give away the land for road widening, but in vain.
THE PROJECT
Road widening will be taken up from BDA junction on Bellary Road to Mekhri Circle on one side. On the other side, it will be from Mekhri Circle to Cantonment Railway Station. The road will be widened to 150 ft which translates into 10 lanes.
THE OWNERS
The Palace property belongs to Srikantadatta Wadiyar, Meenakashi Devi, Kamakshi Devi, Indrakshi Devi, Chandrashekhar Raju. They had agreed to give away the land on May 22, 2010.


BBMP men at work to construct a wall along the Palace Grounds stretch on Bellary Road for road widening. Thy are engaged in foundation-laying works for construction of new wall before the old one is demolished