Govt to rethink TDR proposal

Govt to rethink TDR proposal

A seven-member panel will reassess the compensation scheme for road-widening after gauging public opinion on the contentious issue

Srikanth Hunasavadi Bangalore

The state government is finally taking steps to re-consider implementing the controversial Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) scheme, which is likely to be the final nail in the coffin for this scheme, perceived as infamous by Bangaloreans.
As the first step in that direction, the urban development department has organised a state-level workshop on TDR on September 7 in Bangalore which will include town planners, non-government organisations and other experts, said urban development minister S Suresh Kumar.
The state government had proposed the TDR scheme to citizens who will lose their properties due to road-widening. The scheme offers compensations through payments or through provision of alternative sites. But past experiences indicated that in most cases such citizens were either paid inadequate compensation or provided undervalued properties elsewhere in the city. This had led to anxiety among the residents set to lose their properties and a series of campaigns to oppose these plans.
Now, the government has set up a high-level seven-member committee headed by A Ravindra, advisor to the CM on urban development, to study the TDR issue.